[Newsletter N.13] Ursula von der Leyen, Queen of the EU?

Internally, no Commission President in recent history has managed to centralise so much power like she has. In an institution that is proud of its decades-long acumen in shaping policy, not a single decision is taken today without the President's seal of approval (or rather, her mighty head of cabinet's, Björn Seibert). The presidentialisation of the Commission, which begun almost two decades ago under José Manuel Barroso, has reached its apogee.

Yet externally, von der Leyen is weaker than most of her predecessors. She lacks both political inventiveness and the sly negotiating skills to get difficult legal files over the finish line. And while predecessors like Mario Monti or Jacques Delors had the explicit backing of Berlin (or, back in the days, Bonn) and Paris to come forward with bold reforms, neither the French President nor the German chancellor seem to be able to agree on a common European project the von der Leyen Commission could act as a vector for.

Her recent State of the European Union address in Strasbourg in front of the European Parliament's plenary on September 17th was a case in point. Rich in rhetorical flourishes, yet poor in substance. Von der Leyen said many interesting and new things. But the interesting things weren't new, and the new things weren't interesting. Her proposal to offer Canada an "associated membership" to the EU added only confusion. In place of coming forward with specific political projects the Union and Canada could unite around (an integrated critical raw materials value chain, for example, as suggested by Prime Minister Mark Carney the day after von der Leyen's speech), the President stayed vague and elusive.

Europe's Queen, it seems, is basking in her regal aura. She's not so sure what to do with it, however.

— Oliver Grimm EU correspondent, Die Presse

Link : Ursula von der Leyen, Queen of the EU?