TOPSHOT - German Chancellor Angela Merkel looks at a bunch of flowers that she received for her birthday during the weekly cabinet meeting on July 17, 2019 at the Chancellery in Berlin. - Von der Leyen, who had served as defence minister since 2013, will step down to become the first woman to hold the EU's top job after MEPs narrowly backed her in a vote on July 16, 2019. (Photo by John MACDOUGALL / AFP)