The European Commission confirmed Wednesday that Selmayr would not stay on as secretary general when fellow German Ursula von der Leyen takes over as president of the EU's executive in November.

Instead, Selmayr is set to head the EU's mission in Austria, the Commission said.

EU Commissioner for Personnel Günter Oettinger said it was "self evident" that the general secretary "should not have the same nationality" as the president.

Oettinger heaped praise on Selmayr, thanking him for his "effective management" as head of the EU's 32,000-member civil service.

"I think the five years of the Jean-Claude Juncker Commission would not be conceivable in this form without his [Selmayr's] involvement," said Oettinger.

"I think most are thankful to him. And those that are not thankful have respect for him, at least," added Oettinger.

Selmayr had hinted at his departure last week. Wednesday's decision was reached by the EU's College of Commissioners.

Watch video 01:50 Share Von der Leyen voted in Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3MBDA Von der Leyen elected first woman EU Commission president

Rebukes last year

Selmayr, a 48-year-old who studied law in Germany, the United States and Britain, was fast-tracked to become the commission's secretary general in February 2018, earning rebukes from the bloc's ombudswoman Emily O'Reilly and the European Parliament.

Between 2004 and 2010, he served as Commission spokesman on telecommunications and media policy.

Before taking up duties in Vienna on November 1, Selmayr will continue acting as an adviser to Juncker on "important strategic matters," according to the Commission.

Who will succeed Selmayr hinges upon von der Leyen, who takes office as Commission president on November 1.

Latvia's Juhansone acting secretary general

In the interim, the top post will be handled on a temporary basis by Ilze Juhansone of Latvia, the EU bureaucracy's longest-serving deputy general secretary.

In Vienna, Selmayr will replace Jörg Wojahn, who is set to move to Berlin to head the Commission's mission there, Politico magazine reported.

ipj/amp (AFP, dpa)

Every evening, DW sends out a selection of the day's news and features. Sign up here. </s> Ursula von der Leyen gestures after being elected as the new European Commission President at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France, Tuesday, July 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

BRUSSELS (AP) — For Ursula von der Leyen, becoming European Commission president and perhaps the most important official in the European Union felt like coming home.

After she was confirmed by the European Parliament in a cliffhanger ballot that saw her scrape through with nine votes beyond a necessary absolute majority of 374, the sigh of relief was there for all to see.

“I always wanted to come back to my roots,” she said, geographically because she was born in Brussels, and politically since she came from a pro-European family where her father already held a high-level EU position.

“I come from a family that has a European history,” she said Tuesday.

Still, little more than two weeks ago, her name was a near-total surprise when EU leaders proposed her to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker.

She is a strong supporter of closer European cooperation who has been Germany’s defense minister since 2013 and a fixture in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet over the longtime leader’s nearly 14 years in power.

Von der Leyen, 60, spent her early years in the Belgian capital and speaks fluent English and French, having studied at the London School of Economics in the 1970s. She also lived in Stanford, California, from 1992 to 1996, where two of her seven children were born.

She was long viewed as a potential successor to Merkel, but has had a tough tenure at the head of the notoriously difficult defense ministry and had long since faded out of contention by the time Merkel stepped down last year as leader of her center-right Christian Democratic Union, or CDU, party.

Still, von der Leyen, a medical doctor, played a significant role in modernizing the image of her party during the Merkel years. As minister for families in Merkel’s first Cabinet from 2005 to 2009, she introduced benefits encouraging fathers to look after their young children.

Von der Leyen then served as labor minister until 2013, when she became Germany’s first female defense minister.

Pushing for gender equality will mark her next five years too, she said. She only got the job, she said, “thanks to all the men and women who have broken down barriers and defied convention.”

Shortly after Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016, she said as defense minister that Brexit offered the bloc an opportunity to press ahead with greater military cooperation.

“Britain consistently blocked everything that had Europe written on it,” von der Leyen said. She argued that closer military ties between member states could help ease the frustration many voters feel about the EU’s inability to tackle major issues.

Her views on Europe are anathema to the spirit of Brexit sweeping the United Kingdom.

In an interview with news magazine Der Spiegel in 2011, as the eurozone debt crisis rumbled, von der Leyen declared a loftier goal for Europe.

“My aim is the United States of Europe — on the model of federal states such as Switzerland, Germany or the U.S.” She said that Europe could use its “size advantage” on financial, taxation and economic questions.

Her views, if anything, are even stronger now.

Von der Leyen comes from a political family and is the daughter of a former governor of her home state of Lower Saxony, Ernst Albrecht, who before that was a senior European civil servant. She has been a deputy leader of Merkel’s CDU since 2010. Despite being mentioned over the years as a potential successor to Merkel, she herself publicly dismissed such talk.

“In every generation, there is one chancellor,” she said in 2013. “In my generation, that is Angela Merkel.”

In her generation, von der Leyen is now the first female European Commission president. </s> Martin Selmayr, the most controversial, powerful and shortlived head of the European Commission’s civil service who one critic said should be sent to “Outer Mongolia”, is leaving Brussels for the relative backwater of Austria.

In what the German official’s many antagonists will see as an abrupt demotion, Mr Selmayr is to be posted to Vienna as head of the EU’s delegation there, representing the bloc in what is a quasi-ambassadorial role.

A close lieutenant of Jean-Claude Juncker, the outgoing president, Mr Selmayr’s unrivalled grip on the bureaucracy of Brussels, as well as his notoriety and ruthless working methods, quickly overshadowed many of the politicians on the commission.

“The five years of the Jean Claude Juncker commission would be inconceivable without his contribution,” said Günther Oettinger, the commissioner for human resources.

But Mr Selmayr’s all-powerful reputation as Mr Juncker’s chief of staff and later commission secretary-general made him countless enemies in other parts of Brussels.

He shrugged off the criticisms, once telling the Financial Times: “You cannot run the European Commission like a Montessori school.”

The announcement of his move, to take effect from November, comes just days after Ursula von der Leyen was confirmed as the next president of the commission.

The incoming head of the EU executive has decided to replace Mr Selmayr to satisfy his opponents in the European Parliament and dispel doubts about her authority when she takes over.

Many MEPs had demanded Mr Selmayr’s departure as a condition for supporting Ms von der Leyen, including Socialists, Greens and even some German centre-right MEPs who hail from the same CDU party as Mr Selmayr.

Philippe Lamberts, the leader of the Green group, had suggested Ms von der Leyen dispatch Mr Selmayr to represent the EU “in Outer Mongolia”.

Even a less controversial figure than Mr Selmayr might have struggled to overcome objections to Brussels’ top civil servant being of the same nationality as the incoming president, Germany’s former defence minister.

His stint as secretary general has been dogged by controversy over the nature of his sudden appointment in March last year, which involved a double promotion in the space of a few minutes. The European Parliament alleged the switch of jobs was “coup-like”.

One ambassador in Brussels said: “He lived by the sword and in the end they cut him down”. Another said: “We are sorry to see him go. He was very capable. Every man has his weaknesses. But he got things done.”

There has long been speculation that Mr Selmayr would seek a top posting in Washington, at the European Central Bank or as the EU’s envoy to London after Brexit – a country where perhaps his notoriety is greatest.

But Mr Selmayr told friends he wants to go to Vienna for three or four years so he can devote more time to teaching EU law at the universities of Saarbrücken, Passau and Krems – a sideline he kept during his time at the commission.

Until November, Mr Selmayr will remain an adviser to Mr Juncker. The commission said the president and his team paid tribute to Mr Selmayr’s “outstanding qualities and achievements”.

Ms von der Leyen is not expected to appoint Mr Selmayr’s replacement until later in the year. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2019 </s> The Latest: Von der Leyen ready for further Brexit extension

BRUSSELS (AP) — The Latest on the EU parliament vote on Commission President (all times local):

Ursula von der Leyen, the candidate to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as head of the EU executive, says she would grant another extension to the Brexit deadline if Britain needed it to assure an orderly withdrawal from the bloc.

Britain is slated to leave the bloc on Oct. 31, which is already a half-year delay from the original departure date.

Britain, however, has been wracked by internal division over the terms of departure agreed with the EU.

"I stand ready for a further extension of the withdrawal date should more time be required," she told EU lawmakers Tuesday.

Boris Johnson, the favorite to succeed outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May, has said that he wants to leave the EU on Oct. 31, with or without an agreement.

Outgoing German defense minister Ursula von der Leyen is seeking to woo enough legislators at the European Parliament to secure the job of European Commission President in a secret vote late Tuesday.

The Christian Democrat of the European People's Party is promising the parliamentarians she will put climate and social issues at the heart of her program over the next five years as she seeks to gather the requisite 374 votes out of 747.

Von der Leyen was a last-minute candidate to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker that the EU leaders agreed on as part of a package of top jobs that were decided on early this month.

Under the package, the free-market liberal Renew Europe group got Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel as Council President and the Socialists won the top parliament job. </s> Image copyright Reuters Image caption Ursula von der Leyen was backed by Angela Merkel but there was resistance to her nomination within the German coalition

EU leaders have put forward their nominations for the bloc's top jobs, with a woman for the first time proposed as European Commission chief.

The surprise choice of German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen to replace Jean-Claude Juncker came after the main front-runners were rejected.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde has been nominated as the first woman to head the European Central Bank (ECB).

The announcement follows days of difficult negotiations.

In all, EU leaders were tasked with nominating five people for the top jobs.

Belgian liberal Prime Minister Charles Michel is nominated to replace European Council President Donald Tusk while Spain's Josep Borrell is proposed as foreign policy chief.

The fifth key role - president of the European Parliament - is to be chosen on Wednesday. Possible candidates include German centre-right MEP Manfred Weber and Bulgarian socialist Sergei Stanishev.

Most of the roles must be ratified by the European Parliament.

Is everyone happy with the choices?

"We have agreed the whole package before the first session of the European Parliament," said Mr Tusk.

He said Germany had abstained on Mrs von der Leyen's nomination over coalition issues but pointed out that Chancellor Angela Merkel herself had backed her.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the nominations were "the fruit of a deep Franco-German entente".

"Von der Leyen is a very good candidate and a very good choice to head the European Commission," he told reporters, adding that Ms Lagarde's "capacities and competences... totally qualified her" for the ECB.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Donald Tusk announces choices for top European Commission jobs

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said the nomination of two women for key jobs sent a powerful message that the EU was leading the way towards gender equality.

However, there were concerns that the European Parliament's own contest for the main job - the "Spitzenkandidaten" (lead candidate) process - had been cast aside. Neither the winner of that process, Manfred Weber of Germany, nor other frontrunners were selected by EU leaders.

"You have to compromise in politics," Mr Varadkar insisted, adding that the centre-right Mr Weber would most likely be given the shared presidency of the European Parliament along with a Socialist figure.

There was also surprise that four of the main jobs had gone to Western Europeans, with no nominations from Eastern Europe.

However, the eastern states are thought to have been strongly behind Mrs von der Leyen's nomination, having rejected a compromise involving Dutch Labour leader Frans Timmermans the night before.

Days of indecision reveal EU power shift

Ursula von der Leyen - if confirmed as new European Commission president - will not bring winds of change to Brussels. She's loyal to the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a true Christian Democrat and a conservative Europhile.

As for Brexit, remember, the European Commission negotiated on behalf of EU member states. Those negotiations ended when the UK government signed off on the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement back in November.

The only ones now with the legal power to change or add to the text are EU national leaders, not the commission. And what these days of indecision among national leaders over these top EU jobs have shown us is that while France and Germany are still powerful, they are not all-powerful in EU circles any more.

Chancellor Merkel and President Macron were unable to impose on others the EU job allocation plan agreed between them at the G20. Something for the new UK prime minister to consider, perhaps, ahead of planning trips to Berlin and Paris to request a renegotiation of the Brexit deal.

The nominees in full

Ursula von der Leyen - European Commission president

Image copyright EPA

What's the job? The EU commission president heads the executive branch, sets the policy agenda and controls a cabinet of commissioners.

Who is she? Born in Brussels, Mrs von der Leyen, 60, and her family moved to Germany when she was 13. She studied economics at London's LSE and medicine in Hanover before going into politics.

She has been a member of Mrs Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) since 2005.

If Mrs von der Leyen is confirmed in the role it would be the first time in more than 60 years that a German has been given the post.

Christine Lagarde - head of the European Central Bank

Image copyright AFP

What's the job? Running the ECB, which is responsible for the euro and the monetary policy of the eurozone. The role is currently filled by Mario Draghi, who was widely credited with saving the euro during the eurozone debt crisis.

Who is she? Ms Lagarde, 63, who is French, was the first woman to head the International Monetary Fund (IMF) when she took the job in 2011.

She studied in the US before graduating from law school in Paris and obtaining a Masters degree from the Political Science Institute in Aix en Provence

She was appointed France's trade minister in 2005 and finance minister in 2007.

Charles Michel - European Council president

Image copyright Reuters

What's the job? Chairs the body made up of the leaders of EU member states which defines the EU's political direction.

Who is he? In 2014 Mr Michel at the age of 38 became Belgium's youngest prime minister since 1841.

He has been a lawyer at the Brussels Bar since 1998 and a member of the Belgian parliament since 1999.

Mr Michel's father, Louis Michel, has also been a prominent politician and an MEP.

Josep Borrell - EU foreign policy chief

Image copyright EPA

What's the job? Co-ordinating and representing foreign and security policy for the EU. The brief is currently held by Italy's Federica Mogherini.

Who is he? The 72-year-old Spanish foreign minister is set to make a return to the top tier of EU politics after serving as European Parliament president from 2004 to 2007.

He began his career as a member of the Spanish Socialist Party in 1975 and has a reputation for plain speaking. </s> BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany’s Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen is being touted by Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, as a potential successor to Jean-Claude Juncker as head of the European Commission, Die Welt reported on Tuesday.

According to the newspaper, the conservative von der Leyen, a close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, would be the president of the bloc’s executive. Christine Lagarde, currently head of the International Monetary Fund, was being considered for the presidency of the European Central Bank, it added.

Other candidates being discussed included Belgium’s Prime Minister Charles Michel as a possible successor to Tusk as European Council president, the newspaper said. Slovakia’s Maros Sefcovic was being considered for the role of EU foreign policy head, it added. </s> The European Parliament confirmed Ursula von der Leyen as EU Commission president in a secret ballot on Tuesday. She succeeds Jean-Claude Juncker to become the first woman to head the commission, which oversees policies for 500 million Europeans.

Von der Leyen received 383 of 747 votes, surpassing the 374 needed to secure the presidency. There were 22 abstentions and one blank vote cast.

Germany's defense minister emerged as the favourite to head the European Commission at the 11th hour of an epic EU emergency summit on July 2. The surprise announcement came after weeks of intense wrangling between EU leaders, which, until the final hours of a three-day emergency summit, had centered on three completely different candidates: German conservative Manfred Weber, Dutch Socialist Frans Timmermans and Danish liberal Margrethe Vestager.

Von der Leyen’s last-minute nomination saved EU leaders from having to hand over the crucial pick to the EU Parliament but resulted in them circumventing the so-called “spitzenkandidaten” process, a system in which the main party blocs in the European Parliament nominate their lead candidates.

To the frustration of many lawmakers, von der Leyen was also an EU institution outsider and widely seen as someone chosen from behind closed doors, a compromise between French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Once seen as Merkel successor

Von der Leyen, 60, was born in Brussels as one of eight children to Ernst Albrecht, one of Europe’s first civil servants. When she was 13, the family moved to Germany, where von der Leyen went on to study economics at the University of Göttingen. In 1978 she was forced to spend more than a year in hiding in London after her family learned that the far-left militant group, the notorious Baader-Meinhof gang, planned to kidnap her in order to extort her father. While in London, von der Leyen lived under the fake name “Rose Ladson” and studied at the London School of Economics.

In 1979 she returned to Germany, where she trained as a doctor and went on to work in a women’s clinic in Hanover until she and her husband, Professor Heiko von der Leyen, started a family. Throughout much of the 1990s she took a break from her career to be a stay-at-home mum to care for the couple’s seven children. During this time, the family also spent four years in Stanford, California.

After returning to Germany, von der Leyen got involved in local politics. In the early 2000s she joined Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) party. When Merkel took office in 2005, she joined the federal cabinet as a family affairs minister, and between 2009 and 2013 she worked as a labour and social affairs minister. Von der Leyen is the only minister to have served continuously in Merkel’s government and was long seen as the likely successor to the chancellor.

In 2013, von der Leyen was appointed Germany’s first female defence minister, but problems involving failing army equipment and shortcomings within military training quickly saw her popularity plummet. Her reputation received an even bigger blow when the defence ministry was accused of ignoring the public procurement process when allocating multimillion-euro contracts to external companies, including to the firm where her son works. A recent poll by Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper showed that von der Leyen was the second-least-popular member of Merkel’s cabinet.

On Monday she said she would resign from her defence ministry post no matter what the EU decided.

Internationally, however, von der Leyen – who speaks fluent French and English – has built up a strong profile advocating greater EU integration, pushing for what she calls the "United States of Europe".

Her stance seems to have impressed French President Macron in particular, who has repeatedly praised her for having “the DNA of the European community” and lauded her for her cooperation on Franco-German defence issues.

On the eve of EU lawmakers voting on her nomination for the commission's top post, von der Leyen attempted to shore up support by announcing a raft of economic, environmental and social reforms.

In letters to lawmakers, von der Leyen pledged to back a guaranteed EU minimum wage as well as an unemployment benefit scheme. She also said she would advocate more flexibility in the interpretation of EU budget rules. In addition, she said she would seek a cut in EU carbon emissions of up to 55 percent by 2030 and promised an overhaul of the bloc’s migration and foreign policies. </s> The European Union’s most senior official has been sacked and demoted as Ursula von der Leyen, the new European Commission president, tightens her grip on the levers of power in Brussels.

Martin Selmayr, 48, who had a meteoric rise to the top of the EU, has now established a dubious record as the shortest-lived secretary-general in the commission’s 62-year history.

The German official, who was made the EU’s most senior civil servant last year, will be posted to head the EU’s delegation in Vienna in November in what is regarded as a sacking and rapid demotion. His civil service rank and salary of over €220,000 will not be affected.

Mr Selmayr will stay on as a special adviser to Jean-Claude Juncker, the current commission president,… </s> After three days of arduous negotiations, European Union leaders broke a deadlock Tuesday and nominated German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen to become the new president of the bloc’s powerful executive arm, the European Commission, and take over from Jean-Claude Juncker for the next five years.

European Council President Donald Tusk said in a series of tweets that Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel would take over from him in the fall.

Frenchwoman Christine Lagarde was proposed as president of the European Central Bank, while Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell was nominated to become EU foreign policy chief, meaning he would be charged with supervising the Iran nuclear deal, among other duties.

Only Mr. Michel can take up his post in November without other formalities. The others, notably Ms. von der Leyen, must be endorsed by the European Parliament. The assembly sits in Strasbourg, France on Wednesday to elect its own new president.

“It is important that we were able to decide with great unity today, and that is important because it’s about our future ability to work.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters after the nominations decided away from the cameras and media in a long series of meetings were made public.

Several lawmakers have already objected to the leaders’ package of nominations, and it remains to be seen whether the parliament will flex new found muscles following the massive turnout for EU-wide elections in May. Party leaders have said the vote has brought the assembly the EU’s only elected institution even more democratic legitimacy.

“It won’t be easy in parliament,” said Mr. Juncker, who steps down on Oct. 31 as head of the commission, which proposes and enforces EU laws.

Mr. Tusk said “it was worth waiting for such an outcome” and that he would do his best to explain to what could well be a tetchy parliament on Thursday how the nominations were made and what thought processes went into the move.

“It’s always a huge question mark. This is why we have parliaments,” Mr. Tusk said, with a wry smile.

Ms. Von der Leyen would be the first woman in the commission job, and Ms. Merkel said this is “a good sign.”

So would Ms. Lagarde currently chair of the International Monetary Fund and she would serve for up to eight years if her nomination is endorsed.

“That’s a very important statement that Europe leads on gender equality,” Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said.

“It might have taken three days, but it’s a good outcome overall,” he told reporters.

The nominations came after one of the longest summits in recent years, outstripping even all-night negotiations during the Greek debt crisis.

Already plagued by crises like Brexit and deep divisions among nations over how best to manage migration, the leaders had been keen to show that they could take quick decisions and that the European project remains important to its citizens.

But they struggled to establish a delicate balance between population size and geography an even mix of countries from the north and south, east and west, and ensure that at least two women were nominated. Tusk he said he hoped that someone from a central or eastern European member state would be voted in as president of the European Parliament.

Despite deep tensions, some tantrums by leaders behind the scenes and even public criticism of his handling of the summit, Tusk said- “Five years ago we needed three months to decide, and still some leaders were against. This year it was three days and nobody was against.”
The European Parliament elects Ursula von der Leyen of Germany as the new President of the European Commission. Succeeding Jean-Claude Juncker, she will be sworn in on 1 November 2019. She is the first woman to be elected to this office in EU history.