woman in the heart of europe

This jaundice is not a grand indulgence. is in the EU in the midst of turmoil, The war on the European continent has forced a restructuring of its six-decade peace project. Mrs von der Leyen is shaping the EU’s response to the challenges it faces, from Russian gas shortages to anemic defense spending. Its economy, fresh out of COVID-19, is on a new track, better equipped to counter US protectionist green subsidies, reduce Europe’s over-reliance on China and deal with the imperatives of climate change.

Previous crises that engulfed blocs such as the euro-zone miasma a decade ago threatened to tear the EU apart. But in the face of pandemic, then war, a sense of common purpose has helped the club deliver a lifting he rarely enjoys, Europe is turning around its blue-and-gold-star EU flag, a line of which flutters outside the Commission’s headquarters in Brussels. Mrs von der Leyen tells The Economist in her cavernous office on the 13th floor: “We have shown this unity because we have understood from the beginning that this Russian war in Ukraine will change Europe.”

Wisely, under his leadership, the political fabric of the continent has been re-woven, and far more power is flowing to the head of the commission. That the 64-year-old German would do so much to change was once far from clear: Power in Europe is often controlled by national leaders, starting with France and Germany. His appointment in 2019 came as something of a surprise. A longtime ally of Angela Merkel, the former chancellor of the same centre-right CDU party, she survived rather than thrived in difficult defense briefs for five years. The top job in Brussels was a convenient exit ramp; For the first time in five decades, a German will sit at the helm of the commission. It was a position for which the multilingual Mrs von der Leyen seemed suited: She grew up in Brussels, her father having been a senior EU official in the bloc’s early years. “I was very much born European,” she says.

Three peculiar things amused the Eurocrats in their early days. The first was Mrs von der Leyen’s unusual route to power – she studied economics before becoming a doctor, then juggling a political career and seven children. The second was his decision to convert part of his Brussels office into a studio to live in, cramming in long days and nights of work (some predecessors were less industrious). The third was in the habit of describing itself as the head of the “geopolitical” commission from its inception. Running the EU’s 32,000-strong executive in Brussels is often a matter of grinding technical machinery, not high politics – war and peace rather than regulating chemicals and changing wheat subsidies.

The claim seems less grand nowadays. COVID-19, which struck soon after he took office, provided an early test. Mrs von der Leyen fought to prevent the re-emergence of barriers between EU countries. Its staff were tasked by national governments with procuring vaccines for 447 million Europeans – a task it was unprepared for, and accomplished only after costly initial delays.

Mrs von der Leyen spoke of the commission as “seizing the opportunity and showing leadership”. One example was the €750bn ($820bn) pandemic recovery fund, a federal jump (albeit, she insists, a one-off event, although others may disagree about that. Cleverly, the money only went to priorities set in Brussels. – which has used the money to crack down on countries it feels fall short of EU rules. Poland and Hungary, which are believed to have bolstered their judiciaries, still have no cash. have seen.

The war on the continent catalysed further changes. The European Union responded to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by organizing ten rounds of sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s regime and providing some €38 billion in financial aid. It even, in a radical departure, paid for some €3.6bn-worth of weapons once heavily barred. Domestically, an energy crisis that once drove the EU economy into recession has eased somewhat.

The fighting in Ukraine – and the subsequent Russian gas cut – raised questions about Europe’s dependence on the outside world. Mrs von der Leyen talks of “resilience” – a concept not too far from the “strategic autonomy” preferred by France’s Emmanuel Macron, with whom he just visited China. That trip provided an example of the intriguing power dynamics in Europe. Just before the visit, Mrs von der Leyen warned in an aggressive speech that “China has now turned the page on the era of ‘reform and opening up’ and is entering a new era of security and control”. Officials in Beijing made sure he did, for example by ensuring he got little time with President Xi Jinping.

Those looking for a split in Europe’s approach to China found it easy to do so. And on his way home, Mr. Macron made matters worse by telling reporters that he thought Europe should not become a “follower” of the US, taking its cue from Washington over the crisis over Taiwan. It got worse in America where some wondered whether, in that case, America should leave Europe to deal with Russia on its own.

Whether it’s keeping the lights on, developing weapons or manufacturing electric cars, Europe is increasingly looking to get on its own feet. EU rules that had kept its economy one of the most open in the world dependent on supply chains outside its borders are now out of favor. A new economic model is slowly emerging with a much greater role for the state, including the Brussels bureaucracy. Partly that’s a result of the only part of his core agenda being out of touch with events: Europe is on track to reduce carbon emissions by 55% below 1990 levels by the end of this decade, and net There is a plausible chance of reaching zero by 2050.

What may come next? Mrs von der Leyen’s five-year term ends in 2024. Some of his predecessors remained for a decade. Most countries are minded to keep him, but arcane processes to divulge top jobs (linked to European Parliament elections in spring next year) could still unsettle him. There are rumors that he may end up as the head of NATO, based in Brussels, which is probably it. When asked about her intentions, she offers nothing but the wry smile of a seasoned politician.

Mrs von der Leyen has her critics, who accuse her of centralizing power in a small team of aides, rather than distributing it among 27 commissioners sent by member states. Others complain that it simply channels the collective interest of the bloc’s national governments, rather than adhering to some lofty European ideal. Or, perhaps, that she has stepped into the void created by the unusually distant relationship between France and Germany – a gulf that she too has not been able to bridge.

The twin tragedies of Covid-19 and war were an odd fit for the doctor-turned-defense minister. But this was a challenge that could easily have been avoided, and it was not. She says that keeping Europe united is “a constant work in progress”. This is the source of the EU’s unexpectedly strong influence in recent times – and its own. “It’s something … you have to work at day by day.”

© 2023, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. From The Economist, published under license. Original content can be found at www.economist.com