The piece linked below was originally posted on April 26, 2023. It was relevant two years ago – it’s more relevant now.
Given the continuing war in Ukraine, in addition to trying to forge Europe into a united front against Russia Ursula von der Leyen is dealing with President Donald Trump’s upending of global trade. She has spent the last two weeks wheeling and dealing not just to support existing trade deals but to, wherever possible, and sensible, create new ones.
There is no single European leader that otherwise stands out. The leaders of Europe’s three largest, most powerful countries – Britain, France, and Germany – are relatively or effectively either new in their posts, or in one case a bit of a lame duck. So, though von der Leyen has no national base or army of constituents to support her, because she occupies the now more important than ever post of president of the European Commission (the European Union’s executive arm), and because she is not only highly competent but highly experienced, she stands out even more than before. It is she to whom her European peers increasingly turn to stablize the unstable situation, and perhaps to seize the day. To get Europeans less to fight among themselves and more to unite among themselves.
To repeat, the following piece is not old hat.