Manfred Weber (born 14 July 1972) is a German politician who has served 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 in Bavaria (CSU), part of the European People's Party. In the 2003 Bavarian state elections, Weber became the state's youngest parliamentarian at the age of 29. Currently heading the European People's Party 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. On 5 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 on 8 November. On 26 May 2019 Weber's European People's Party 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. Education and early career 1996: engineer, Munich Higher Technical Institute (now Munich University of Applied Sciences) 1996–2014: Founded own consultancy firm (self-employed) 2002–2004: Member of the Bavarian Parliament (Other) Political career Career in state politics Since 2002, Weber has been a member of the Kelheim Regional Council. From 2002 until 2004, he served as Member of the Landtag of Bavaria. In 2003, Weber succeeded Markus Söder as chairman of the Junge Union in Bavaria; he served in that position until 2007. In this capacity, he also joined the CSU executive board. In 2008, he succeeded Erwin Huber as chairman of the CSU of Lower Bavaria, one of the party's ten districts. Member of the European Parliament, 2004–present Weber served on the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs from 2004 until 2012 and on the Committee on Constitutional Affairs from 2012 until 2014. During that time, he was a substitute for the Committee on Regional Development, a member of the Delegation for relations with India, a substitute for the Delegation for