Von der Leyen invokes horsepower in tribute to ‘incredible’ equines
As she picked up an award in her home region of Lower Saxony on Tuesday, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stressed that she draws inspiration from the sangfroid and steeliness of German horses.
“Horses radiate an incredible calm and resilience, and I believe they are an ideal symbol for our tempestuous times,” von der Leyen, who’s steered Europe through multiple crises since 2019, said in a speech in Hannover.
The Lower Saxony Land medal von der Leyen won – an award for outstanding service to the German region – is embossed on one side with an image of a rearing white steed, the heraldic symbol of Lower Saxony. It is the same state where von der Leyen’s father, Ernst Albrecht, served as minister-president from 1976 to 1990.
Von der Leyen, a skilled rider herself, has made her passion for equine creatures well known. She pushed the European Union to downgrade the protection status of wolves after her pony, Dolly, was killed by a grey wolf in 2022. The cold-blooded killing made her family “horribly distressed,” she said at the time.
According to Mark Wentein, who runs the European Horse Network whose meetings are attended by von der Leyen, the centre-right politician owns horses back home in Beinhorn, near Hannover, and even breeds them.
Von der Leyen’s paean to her four-legged friends didn’t end there. Horses symbolise her own achievements in office, she suggested.
“When we are buffeted by the wind, when old certainties crumble, we need stability and endurance,” she said. “How often have I been told over the past six years that Europe would not be able to do this or that?”
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