European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who is recovering from pneumonia, remains in her post and there is currently no plan to replace her, Commission spokeswoman Paola Pino said today.

“Persistent and dedicated as she is, she maintains continuity of work and is in daily contact with her team“, said P. Pinot for Ursula von der Leyen. “Although the president is not physically present in Brussels as she recovers from pneumonia, work continues and she is in daily contact with all of us“, added P. Pino, citing as an example that Ms. Von der Leyen had a telephone conversation with the Prime Minister of Italy, before the trip of Georgia Meloni to the USA.

Asked why Ms. Von der Leyen does not entrust any vice-president of the Commission with her duties while she is in the process of recovery, P. Pino replied that “for now” there is no need to appoint a member of the House of Commissioners to replace her. “If this needs to be done, the first in line is Commission Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribeira“, he added.

Paola Pino noted that Ursula von der Leyen is in the process of recovering and has therefore canceled some of her commitments for the first two weeks of January, including a speech in Lisbon and a trip to Gdansk, Poland.

Regarding the established trip of the College of Commissioners to the country that takes over the presidency of the EU, P. Pino said it had been agreed with the Polish authorities to postpone it until further notice. “We will let you know when we have a specific date“, said the spokeswoman, avoiding to answer whether the trip will take place at the end of January or the beginning of February. The same spokeswoman refrained from going into details about the state of health of the president of the Commission.