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QUESTIONED
LEADERSHIP
The
discrediting of von der Leyen is harming EU credibility
Ursula
von der Leyen has just survived the third motion of censure against her
Commission. European correspondent Bernardo de Miguel gathers statements from
several experts to analyse "the discredit the EU is exposed to" if
the political situation is not brought under control. A year after starting her
second term, von der Leyen has gone from “being compared to Jacques Delors” to
seeing how Draghi is now regarded as "a sort of shadow president of the
Commission" as a result of the German’s weakness.
Bernardo
de Miguel
Bernardo
de Miguel
10 de
octubre de 2025
https://agendapublica.es/noticia/20261/discrediting-of-von-der-leyen-is-harming-eu-credibility
Ursula
von der Leyen on Thursday became the first head of the European Commission to
face two motions of censure in a single day – and three within as many months.
The president of the Commission has so far managed to survive these attacks,
directed almost exclusively from the extreme right or extreme left, with the
majority of MEPs declining to second the censures. Nonetheless, von der Leyen
has not been strengthened by her victory; instead, the declining prestige that
has dogged her presidency since December continues unabated. This downward
spiral threatens to affect the EU’s credibility, both in the eyes of
international partners and in European public opinion, which could be even more
dangerous.
"In
less than a year, von der Leyen’s second stint as EC president has seen her
squander the reputation forged during her first term"Second acts aren’t
always great, but rarely do they play out as poorly as they have in this case.
In less than a year, von der Leyen’s second stint as EC president has seen her
squander the reputation forged during her first term (2019-2024). Analyst
Sophie Russack of the CEPS think-tank reminds us that, since 1972, a total of
15 no-confidence motions have sought to bring a Commissioner down, and all have
failed. Of those 15, three have been lodged against von der Leyen in the space
of just three months (two this week and one in July).
Russack
warns that the no-confidence motions weathered by von der Leyen may prove more
perilous than those faced by her predecessors, also noting that in this year’s
motions, the actors promoting censure want more than just electoral gains in
their home countries – they’re aiming to make "a broader impact."
Far-right groups in particular "also want to undermine confidence in the
Commission and question the legitimacy of the European institutions."
"Our
adversaries are not only ready to exploit division but are actively provoking
it"
Ursula
von der Leyen - President of the European Commission
On
Thursday in Strasbourg, von der Leyen suggested much the same in a speech
responding to the failed motions. She warned the honorable members that
"our adversaries are not only ready to exploit division but are actively
provoking it," alluding to the hybrid war being waged against the Union by
Russia. "This is a trap that we cannot fall into," she urged.
Still,
the discrediting of von der Leyen has served the ultra factions – many of them
allies of Trump and/or Putin – in their strategy of calling out the alleged
ineffectiveness and inoperability of the EU, to a point where even the most
pro-European voices are starting to worry that the tarnished image of the
Commission and its president will adversely affect the community.
Thus far,
the German politician has been unable to articulate a European response to
salient issues, and this disorientation (or passivity) is taking a toll. Her
complicit silence amid Israel’s atrocities in Gaza and her humiliating
submission to Donald Trump’s outrages have sparked the ire of a segment of the
public alarmed by the autocratic drift in the U.S. and appalled by the war
crimes attributed to Netanyahu’s government.
At the
other extreme, populist forces have not forgiven von der Leyen’s fierce support
for Ukraine or the aggressively pro-European tenor of her first term, when she
managed to forge robust responses to the pandemic and the energy crisis. Those
maneuvers earned her favorable comparisons with Jacques Delors, previously
considered the Commission’s best-ever president.
"After
a year in office, von der Leyen has not yet decided which parliamentary
majority to use to push through her reform agenda"In contrast, her second
term began on the wrong foot, with von der Leyen opting for uncertain
triangulation in the European Parliament by seeking to rely on both the
pro-European flank (socialist, liberal, popular, and green) and the
increasingly convergent conservatives and ultraconservatives. Von der Leyen’s
evident difficulty in handling these disparate groups has left the Commission
in dangerous paralysis, at a time of major and accelerating changes worldwide.
"After a year in office, she has not yet decided which parliamentary
majority to use to push through her reform agenda," remarked Alberto
Alemanno, professor of European Law at the HEC Paris school of business.
"Her political problems are self-inflicted."
Further
complicating von der Leyen’s lack of initiative is the absence of heavyweight
voices in the Commission. During her first term, and usually in spite of
herself, she benefited from the drive of socialists like Frans Timmermans and
Josep Borrell as well as liberals like Margrethe Vestager and Thierry Breton.
Her authoritarian style overshadowed many of those assets, but never
completely. Now the Commission resembles a political wasteland where von der
Leyen merely imposes her will, with scant explanation offered to her fellow
commissioners.
Also
during her first term, stiff competition between von der Leyen and Charles
Michel (the liberal president of the European Council) provided a similar a
spur. Both fought to assume leadership of the club, even devolving into absurd
struggles for prominence. Today, that risk of cacophony has been replaced by
silence and indifference, with von der Leyen idling and the Council’s current
president, socialist António Costa, looking on mildly as the EU’s public image
worsens.
The
vacuum of power is so obvious that Italy’s Mario Draghi has stepped in as a
sort of shadow president of the Commission. Formerly president of the European
Central Bank, Draghi is received with reverence whenever he speaks at a
community forum. Indeed, his voice seems the only one brave enough to mention
the EU’s flagrant shortcomings, or to point the way forward through the
geopolitical squalls created by Trump and by tense relations between the U.S.
and China. Nevertheless, Draghi’s personal reputation won’t be enough to
compensate for the persistent loss of European prestige should von der Leyen
fail to correct her course through the remainder of this legislature.
Bernardo
de Miguel
Corresponsal
para asuntos europeos
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