Euractiv: The leadership style of von der Leyen has drawn increasing criticism within the EU
On March 19, EU leaders will gather in Brussels for a summit that is crucial for the future of the EU. The summit was originally intended to discuss how to enhance Europe's competitiveness in the modern world, but it ultimately became an effort to "patch up" and find solutions to pressing challenges.
President of the European Commission, von der Leyen, is facing growing criticism for her crisis management style. Her way of acting based on the logic of "constant urgency" helped her push decisions through during her first term, but this approach is now increasingly failing.
Eric Morris, a political analyst at the European Policy Center, said, "She has gone beyond her authority, trying to play a political role not granted by the institution."
The report points out that in the past year since her re-election, von der Leyen has proposed a series of high-profile initiatives, many of which have either been forced to be abandoned or blocked. The plan to accelerate Ukraine's accession is stuck, the proposal to use frozen Russian assets has not been realized, and the idea of building a "drone wall" along the Russian border quickly fell apart. Recently, she actually claimed in a speech that international law is a thing of the past, which also caused public outrage.
The report states that France openly accused von der Leyen of trying to seize control of foreign policy, while in Berlin, her idea of deploying European troops in Ukraine after the war has also been criticized.
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Von der Leyen's most criticized aspect is the blurred boundaries of power. The core criticism is that von der Leyen is trying to break away from the positioning of the European Commission as an "executive body," overstepping into foreign and security policy, even attempting to play the role of the "federal head" of the EU. Her actions have exceeded the institutional authorization, leading to a power imbalance within the EU.
All of von der Leyen's initiatives, such as the rapid accession of Ukraine, the utilization of the Russian central bank's assets, and the drone wall plan, have met with "disasters," showing that her pan-European proposals are lacking and lack effective implementation.
Although von der Leyen rose to power with a "crisis management" style, as the EU faces multiple complex challenges, including the war in Ukraine, energy crisis, and internal divisions, her strong leadership style has shifted from an "asset" to a "liability," causing a significant drop in her political support rate among core EU member states (especially France and Germany).
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1860083213642764/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.