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Who is Ursula von der Leyen, the surprise compromise as European Commission president?
10:37 CAT | 02 Jul 2019
German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen has been named as a candidate for the post of European Commission president. Would she be suitable for the job? DW profiles the doctor and mother of seven, born in Brussels.
She was born in a Brussels suburb a little more than 60 years ago. Now the pursuit of her political career could lead her back to the Belgian and European capital. Discussing key job nominations, the EU’s heads of state and government have come up with the name of Germany Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen.
So now the Christian Democrat politician, who was introduced to the Berlin stage by Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2005 — and who was once briefly treated as a potential successor to Merkel — is apparently set to become head of the European Commission. She would be the Commission’s first-ever female chief, although the actual decision will only be taken by the European Parliament in a couple of days.
A good command of languages
Von der Leyen spent the first 13 years of her life in Brussels. Her father, Ernst Albrecht, who would later become state premier in Lower Saxony, was a high-level official at the EEC and EC, the EU’s predecessor institutions. In contrast to many of her colleagues in the government, von der Leyen speaks English and French fluently and has always acted with self-confidence on the international stage.
In several governments led by Chancellor Merkel, von der Leyen held a variety of ministerial posts. Invariably, she would tackle her new task with great dedication, calling existing structures into question and eventually stirring them up. Occasionally, her determination even produced irritation among her parliamentary party colleagues.
Ministerial posts
Initially, the mother of seven held the post of family minister between 2005 and 2009. With her sometimes unconventional style, she sent clear signals to the political establishment in Berlin. For example, she initiated a parental assistance program (“Elterngeld”) and oversaw a nationwide expansion of childcare by providing substantial financial support from the German government.
In 2009, then serving in Merkel’s second Cabinet, von der Leyen, a trained physician, became health minister. Four years later, in December 2013, she switched to the Ministry of Defense. She remained in charge of the latter ministry even after the complicated government formation process in the wake of the 2017 federal elections. Hardly any of her 17 predecessors, all of them men, managed to hold on to the post for six years.
Prior to taking over at Defence Ministry (long considered a graveyard for promising German political careers), the ambitious von der Leyen had a nearly flawless career. She has mostly been loyal to Chancellor Angela Merkel, who counts on her as a solid pillar in her Cabinet.
Mover and shaker
As defense minister, Von der Leyen quickly tackled the armed forces’ problems one by one. The Bundeswehr was, and still is afflicted by outdated and defective equipment, ill-conceived arms projects and a severe shortage of experts. By applying a lot of political pressure and by speaking out in public on behalf of the Bundeswehr she achieved an increase in the defense budget — albeit still well short of NATO’s spending targets. And under the catchphrase “personnel turnaround,” the first female German defence minister stopped the downsizing of the armed forces, bolstering troop numbers for the first time since the end of the Cold War.
She scrapped Germany’s fixed cap of 185,000 troops. Under von der Leyen’s tenure, defence policy became a recognisable element of Germany’s foreign policy. This was also in line with international efforts to fight the “Islamic State” terror militia, which has seen contributions by the German armed forces in several spheres.
“We’d left behind a period during which the Bundeswehr had been downsized for a long time,” von der Leyen said in 2017. “The security situation has changed to the effect that the Bundeswehr has to deal with a vast number of challenges, ranging from Syria and Iraq to Mali and the entire mission in the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, the troops have to cope with refugee relief and protection of the eastern border. At the same time, the Bundeswehr and I managed, in a concerted effort, to ‘turn the tanker around,’ as it were – there were turnarounds in the areas of equipment, personnel, and finances.”
Asked by DW whether von der Leyen was a good choice to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the EU Commission, Greens defense expert Omid Nouripour quipped about the many recent Bundeswehr failings making headlines in Germany: “The situation with respect to the equipment of the German armed forces is not a necessary qualification for the top EU executive job.”
Slip-ups and scandals
Von der Leyen’s reputation as the woman who gets things done has suffered in recent years. This is due to a number of personnel decisions, but also to a number of scandals. During her tenure, too, major arms projects were delayed, and simultaneously right-wing extremist activities in the armed forces and humiliating practices affecting new recruits came to light. Von der Leyen explicitly distanced herself from the armed forces — more so than her predecessors might have dared.
Claiming that the Bundeswehr was affected by an “attitude problem” hurt her image among the troops. More recently, she was floundering over the question whether the naval training ship “Gorch Fock” still has a future despite skyrocketing cost overruns in restoration work. And gradually it has been coming to light that a deputy minister employed by von der Leyen took a number of liberties, for example hiring a small army of expensive advisers at her own discretion. An investigative committee in Germany’s Bundestag parliament is currently dealing with the case, and von der Leyen is set to take the witness stand in a few months time.
Supports European military cooperation, and more defense spending
Blemishes like these had taken some of the shine off von der Leyen’s once-impeccable reputation in Berlin in recent months and years. And still, longtime observers maintain that her prospects for a Brussels top job are good. In addition to local knowledge and language skills, she contributed to establishing the structure of the EU defense union. “A European army as a long-term goal and NATO are not opposites but, to me, two sides of the same coin, because it’s important that the Europeans make up a strong pillar within NATO, not just in order to uphold NATO’s credibility but also to have a strong European voice,” she said. In response to US President Donald Trump’s call for a greater military commitment of Germany and Europe, she said: “In my opinion, that’s a fair demand.”
Von der Leyen has shown ambition for even higher office in the past. When it fell to the CDU to name a possible presidential successor after the sudden resignation of Horst Köhler in 2010, she temporarily put her own name forward. Now, her career could lead her away from German politics and back to her birthplace.
Source: Deutsche Welle
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