EU Commission chief von der Leyen has fallen ill with 'severe pneumonia' and has cancelled all her appointments for the next two weeks, her office has announced.
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00:00European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has cancelled her engagements for the
00:05first two weeks of January, after falling sick.
00:08According to an official announcement by her office, the EU Commission President has been
00:13diagnosed with severe pneumonia.
00:15Among the events that von der Leyen, who has led the Commission since 2019, had to call
00:20off were a speech in Lisbon and a trip to Gdansk in Poland.
00:25The EU Commission President did not attend an event in Warsaw on Friday evening, where
00:30Poland marked the beginning of its six-month EU Cancelled Presidency with an opening gala.
00:36She was expected to attend the launch of the Polish Cancelled Presidency in Gdansk next
00:41week.
00:42At 66, von der Leyen has only just embarked on a second five-year term at the helm of
00:48the EU's powerful executive body.
00:51The Commission does not have an official succession plan if the President is incapacitated.