Manfred Weber

Manfred Weber (born 14 July 1972) is a German politician who has been serving as president of the European People's Party (EPP) since 2022 and as Leader of the EPP Group in the European Parliament since 2014. He has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Germany since 2004. He is a member of the Christian Social Union (CSU), part of the EPP. In the 2003 Bavarian state elections, Weber became the state's youngest parliamentarian at the age of 31. Heading the EPP Group, he was the youngest group leader in the Parliament at the time of his appointment in 2014, as well as the youngest-ever group leader of the EPP. Weber is known as a moderate politician and power broker in EU politics. In September 2018, Weber declared his intention to run for the position of President of the European Commission, and was elected as the Spitzenkandidat of the EPP in November. On 26 May 2019, Weber's EPP won the most seats in the European Parliament, thus making Weber the lead candidate to become the next President of the European Commission. It was announced on 28 May that the new European Commission President would be picked at an EU summit in June; Weber was not nominated, with Ursula von der Leyen selected instead.