Merz considers von der Leyen for German presidency in 2027

Recently, Merz was asked whether a woman could become the new president of Germany.

"It would be good," he briefly replied.

According to Spiegel, the list of presidential candidates is very short:

• Julia Klöckner – Speaker of the Bundestag;
• Karin Prien – Minister for Family Affairs;
• Ilse Aigner – President of the Bavarian Parliament.

As the publication reports, in government circles it was recently discussed that Merz is considering Ursula von der Leyen. If she becomes the new president of Germany, von der Leyen would lose more than half of her term as President of the European Commission, since she was re-elected in 2024.

According to journalists, the post of president may be attractive for her: she would once again become the first in history – the first female defense minister, the first female president of the European Commission, and the first female federal president.

German presidential elections

In Germany, the president is not elected by direct popular vote.

The president is elected by the Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung) – a special body that convenes only for this purpose. It consists of all members of the Bundestag and an equal number of delegates from the state parliaments (usually regional politicians, public figures, sometimes celebrities).

At the same time, candidates can only be nominated by:

• Parties represented in the Bundestag (most often each major party nominates its own candidate);

• Groups of members of the Federal Assembly (support from at least one group of delegates is required, the law does not limit the exact number of signatures);

• Any combination of delegates, if they agree to propose one person.

At the same time, the chancellor may influence such a process indirectly if his party or coalition proposes a candidate, but formally he does not have the right to nominate.

Currently, the president of Germany is Frank-Walter Steinmeier. He was re-elected for a second term in February 2022.