Germany's Ursula von der Leyen has been largely silent since being nominated for the European Commission presidency on Tuesday, besides a quick "hallo, hello, salut" on Wednesday afternoon.

Yet the longest-serving member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Cabinet — she led the family ministry and the social affairs ministry before becoming defense minister in 2013 — has given plenty of interviews over the years.

Here's the European Council nominee for Commission president in her own words on subjects ranging from foreign policy to gender equality.

European integration

One quote in particular has been making the rounds since von der Leyen's name started floating as an option at the Council summit this week: "My aim is the United States of Europe — modelled on federal states like Switzerland, Germany or the U.S.," she told Der Spiegel in 2011. She repeated her call for a federal EU in an interview with Die Zeit in 2016, adding: "I imagine the Europe of my children or grandchildren not as a loose union of states trapped by national interests."

As defense minister, she pushed for greater security cooperation in the EU, urging a "defense union" and calling for the establishment of an "army of Europeans."

"Europe must be able to act independently precisely in the areas where Europe must act independently" — Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission presidential nominee

Defense and foreign policy

Von der Leyen has also worked with France on closer military cooperation. Her idea for a European joint armed forces is somewhat different from that of French President Emmanuel Macron — an "army of Europeans" rather than an "EU army." Last November, she said that the responsibility for European troops should "not be centralized" but remain with their respective governments. She has stressed that European military cooperation does not stand in competition with NATO, saying that in defense matters, "we want to remain transatlantic, but we also want to become more European."

She has also called for an end to the EU's unanimity requirement in foreign policy matters and said the bloc must be capable of unified military intervention when needed. "Europe must be able to act independently precisely in the areas where Europe must act independently," she said.

Russia, China and the U.S.

While von der Leyen has warned about military escalation against Russia — rejecting in 2014 supplying Ukraine with weapons, which she said could accelerate the conflict — she has advocated a tough stance on Moscow. "President Putin does not appreciate weakness. Currying favor or indulgence does not make him friendlier," she said last year, adding that while she wished for a better relationship with Russia and is open to dialogue, she "sees the facts: Russia has annexed Crimea, it is strangulating eastern Ukraine. Aleppo has been buried under a carpet of bombs by Russian planes."

In January, she warned that Europe is not paying enough attention to China, saying: "Where Russia attacks militarily in the cyber area, China attacks with economic means ... China woos us with a friendly face. And that's why we often overlook how single-mindedly it pursues its goals. And how cleverly." She also criticized Chinese authoritarianism and control over its citizens, adding: "I am convinced that the pursuit of freedom defines humanity."

As defense minister, she has also been vocal in hitting back at U.S. President Donald Trump and his accusation that Germany was not living up to its NATO promises. Last year, von der Leyen — who has lived in the U.S. — told Die Zeit: "A part of U.S. society has forgotten what once made America great ... optimism, pioneer spirit, a self-image as melting pot," adding: "America is more than its presidents."

Brexit

Von der Leyen views — as do many European politicians — the U.K.’s decision to leave the EU as a tragedy. In an interview with newspaper Berliner Morgenpost last year, she said: “It is a fact that with Brexit, we all lose.” She also criticized the "hollow promises ... inflated by populists ahead of the referendum."

Yet von der Leyen, who studied in London for a year, is no Donald Tusk, who has supported a second referendum in the hope that the U.K. would then choose to remain. “As much as I would like to see the Brits stay in the EU, they voted to leave,” she said in the Morgenpost interview.

As defense minister, she stressed that the U.K. and the EU would still cooperate on security matters in the future. But she won’t allow special treatment for the U.K. post Brexit. In an interview with tabloid Bild the day after the referendum, she said: “We want a good partnership with Great Britain in the future. But if we define a special path for Great Britain, other partners like Norway will demand the same. Rules must be the same for everyone.”

Rule of law, democracy and migration

At the height of the 2015 migration crisis, von der Leyen criticized Hungary when it used tear gas against asylum seekers, saying: "This is not acceptable and this is against the European rules that we have. Therefore it is very important that we stick to the respect [where] human dignity and human rights are concerned ... The refugees have a right to be treated decently." And in 2017, she angered Poland by saying "the healthy democratic resistance of the young generation in Poland needs to be supported."

In a long interview on the rise of populism with Der Spiegel in 2016, she mused: "Perhaps we as democrats have believed for too long that democracy is so powerful, so convincing, so brilliant that its victory march cannot be stopped ... Now we realize that democracy can go to the dogs if we don't care for it. If the most precious thing about it, the respect for others and the ability to compromise, gets lost."

She added: "Not democracy has to change, but democrats. We have to stand up again and fight for our cause ... perhaps populism is our chance ... because its dull simplicity forces ourselves to also convince with clear and comprehensible language on what we stand for: A tolerant, open-minded, democratic society inside Europe."

In 2014, von der Leyen temporarily hosted a young Syrian refugee in her home and helped him find an apprenticeship. "He enriched our lives," she said. "So many refugees want to find their feet in Germany and do something in Germany. We should take up and support this drive, then integration will be successful." In 2016, she announced plans to train refugees in the Bundeswehr in areas such as medicine and technology. "The idea is that one day they will return to Syria and help with rebuilding," she said at the time.

Gender equality, family policy and LGBT rights

For a long time the highest-profile female German politician besides Merkel, von der Leyen has experienced her fair share of sexism — the press once liked to refer to her as "super-mama" (she has seven children), and a Bavarian politician mocked her for implementing parental leave for fathers, saying men did not need a "diaper-changing traineeship."

She has long been vocal about the need for gender parity and equal pay, writing in Handelsblatt this year: "As long as men and women do not earn the same money for the same work, it's too early to be self-satisfied" about achievements in gender equality. While in Cabinet, she has backed implementing quotas for women on company boards and in the armed forces in the face of fierce opposition from her conservative party, including from Merkel. She has also pushed for a more equitable family policy, once saying: "To me, equality is achieved when men are no longer insulted as wimps if they take care of their baby or their infirm father."

She campaigned for equal marriage for LGBT couples (which Germany legalised in 2017) and drew the ire of her conservative party colleagues after calling for LGBT couples to be permitted to adopt, saying: "I know of no study that says that children who grow up with [same-sex parents] fare differently than children who grow up in heterosexual marriages."

Climate change

Nichts. Nada. Niente. Von der Leyen doesn't seem to have spoken — or been asked — about climate change (yet).