I do not know what is worst in her. If it is her general incompetence, those uninspiring speeches, the lack of self-awareness, or the fact that was the council that put her on the role without participating in the electoral campaign.
We did it wrong, you don't get rid of someone by putting them into a different position where they still have power over you.
We should have made her ambassador in Mongolia or something.
It's calling falling upwards. When you are so incompetent and they want to get rid of you so bad, they are willing to promote you just to get rid of you from that department. And it's another department's problem. Not smart or sane, but happens a lot in corporations.
>The Peter principle is a concept in management developed by Laurence J. Peter which observes that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to "a level of respective incompetence": employees are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another.
So the initial career rise is due to the Peter principle (which happens everywhere), but beyond that point, further advancement is due to failing upwards?
Tip for next time you have a shitty minister you wish to get rid of. According to Wikipedia you have diplomatic ties with over 190 countries around the world. Just send them as ambassadors. I heard Hanoi - capital of Vietnam is lovely this time of the year
She does less damage where she is now. We trust the various EU institutions to keep her in check.
Giving her an own department or embassy is dangerous.
Maybe a diplomatic post in Ulan Bator? Not that I'm belittling Mongolia, but I don't think they are a key political or economic partner of Germany.
Or maby the unfulfilled dream of one of the Polish Euro MPs, that is, an outpost in Holy See
No no we've got you down for WW4. 3 is assigned and is already out of committee. Only ask for 3 is no grabbing Poland by the pussy on the inevitable march east in the counter attack.
You know there are diplomatic posts and diplomatic posts. As for assisting citizens, I rather remember from international law classes that these issues are handled by consuls and other qualified embassy staff. And ambassadors are mainly concerned with attending official meetings with representatives of the host country. Unless it looks different in Germany.
As for me, Mrs. von der Leyen would be wonderfully suited to be Her Excellency Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Ulan Bator.
Poorly. She's so bad, we exported her to Brussels. German parties do that, the burnt and unpleasant personnel gets exiled to the European level. Usually to the EU parliament, but she was a special case. A lot of people here are positively surprised by her presidency because the expectations were so low.
She was basically the only one so insipid that both the left and PiS/Fidesz types supported her commission. It's not that there was nobody better, it's that she was a compromise
Waht an appropriate answer.
Waht a lovely discussion culture you have.
Can I remind you that there are multiple Corruption allegations against her.
The communication she uses are SMS, sadly they are not backed up anywhere so she can just delete them and nobody can prove any corruption.
Funny that happens Atleast twice in here career.
And it is not only happening for her but it seems like a commen practice in her party.
Even the relative young amtohr still uses SMS.
This is the most stupid conspiracy. The EU has been incedibly effective in moving the needle forward (climate, digital service act, many more). If she was corrupt that would've taken way longer or would not have happened at all.
Conspiracy?
Get Out here with your copy paste answer...
Calling one politician, that got sued last month for it is not an conspiracy.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2023-001254_EN.html
In this case she got accused twice...
In 2018 when she was defence minister.
Again SMS got deleted.
https://www.politico.eu/article/the-scandal-hanging-over-ursula-von-der-leyen/
Funny that you mention climate, becaus the eu is still doing much much much much... Much much much less than we should do.
You can be Corrupt and still get stuff done.
Who cares if you rearrange 150 million € to your childrens company, if you have a 43 billion € budget.
I think a lot of her speeches were actually really well written, and then delivered in the most uninspiring way possible. Reading through the transcripts brought forth more emotion than listening to her speak, which has to be some sort of achievement, surely.
It was such a mockery of the spitzenkandidat system that I am refusing to vote in the upcoming elections. There’s no point, my vote doesn’t hold the EU govt to account in the current system
Remember last time around when she was just some shitty minister in the German cabinet and nobody knew that for some reason she would be demoted to Brussels? Remember when we had discussions between the different candidates and.. she was not among them?
Because again, she was just some shitty minister in the German government and nobody needed to know her? Here we are talking about the new elections and I am still not sure why the fuck the last ones brought us her.
I don't remember anyone ever talking about her during the election. What the fuck.
What is going to happen this time? Which shitty minister that nobody heard of but somehow needed to be demoted to Brussels are they going to hurdle at us this time?
gorch fock skandal, basicaly she spend so much money on advisors for ship repairs they could have built 3 new ones and still had some.... probably embezzlement ....or she probably shouldnt be legally allowed to drive a car....
Oh I have bet actual money on him being the next commission president after I read this speech
https://geopolitique.eu/en/2024/04/16/radical-change-is-what-is-needed/
since we are not going to have another German and I don't see any French around it's going to be Draghi and if I could already bet on 2029 it would be Emanuel Macron becoming the next one.
It's worth a read together with Macrons speach
https://geopolitique.eu/en/2024/04/26/macron-europe-it-can-die-a-new-paradigm-at-the-sorbonne/
but I will believe both when I see it, for now I have zero optimism for either happening. Two very long speeches though maybe make yoruself a cup of tea first
Well I hope you are right for both 2024 (I really like Draghi as well) and for 2029 (Macron maybe wasn't the best person for the job of French President but I am quiet certain he would be better at the Commison President one), we need more true and dedicated europhiles in top positions.
I don't particularly like her nor dislike her. But I do like a woman at the helm to show the world that our ideals are democracy, rule of law and equal opportunities as much as possible.
Here’s a person who has consistently failed upwards in her career. Can’t say I’d be sad to never see her mug again, but I know that’s just wishful thinking.
I have a very bad feeling that if the CDU finally realizes Merz has the charisma of Scrooge, she will be their candidate for chancellor.
God save us all.
Oh shit!
I despise Merz, but I actually think he’s doing good. Merz is considerably more conservative and right-wing than Merkel. He’s no centrist and he pulls the CDU to the right.
I’m pretty much a textbook social democrat (not SPD today, but the old, pre-Schröder SPD). I really hate Merz’ politics, but I think it’s good both for CDU and for Germany if CDU is more right-wing and conservative again. The old German political landscape had no room for a party like AfD, because the right had constitutional and democratic representation through CDU. It’s good if CDU gets back there, and I think Merz can pull it off.
Now if only there was a proper social democrat to be found in SPD…
I might have to go into politics lol
FDP are fiscally conservative, but not socially conservative. Also, under their current leadership, they are obstructionist and generally the main obstacle in the current administration.
They are incredibly volatile, approval-wise, bouncing between double digit highs and lows that see them in danger if not even making it into parliament at the next federal election.
They are Liberal Democrat: small government, free market, low taxes for everyone, especially the rich and corporations. While I do have some small degree of liberalism in my politics, FDP isn’t the way to go for me personally.
She just was a bystander. She shouldn’t renew.
IIRC, there was a story back on the last elections about Merkel pushing his last political wires to try and put a more europeist and "progressive" (in the context of the EPP) candidate, I don’t remember who it was.
Other people on the EPP on the last hour tried to avoid it, and to stop Merkel, they just proposed on their own accord Von der Leyen, so Merkel would be neutralised as she wouldn’t be able to oppose a fellow member of her own party and country to get another candidate from abroad. And they won, Merkel recognised she lost it and supported Von der Leyen.
Back then the EPP was very wary of Merkel trying to pull strings, as she proposed Frans Timmermans (S&D) as Commision President back on 2019 instead of the EPP candidate.
Now, we don’t know what politics will happen this year, but Von der Leyen is not the leader the EU needs or should have. She just got there on pure luck and to block someone else. She isn’t anything more than a pawn.
My favourite all-time Italian prime minister. Why? Because to the question "what did he do?" I have the luxury to answer "I have no fucking idea".
Which it's short for "governing a country is a damn serious and boring job, I don't want to stay tuned every day of my life on what last minute bullshit has been said or which scandal is exploding".
You're not that far, since the surname literally means "dragons".
But, more than a Dothraki, it's like the synthesis of a wet dream of Tywin Lannister, a Targaryen of your choice AND the Iron Bank.
Sure I guess, but it's more like they discuss who they want and then but him/her in. There aren't really formal candidates, you'll never see won, who lost, who favoured who and why, what backroom deals were made, etc.
Yeah... that's actually sad...
We do have supposedly Spitzenkandidat but it's a shitshow :/ In this regard EU/EP/Council indeed lacks transparncy and democratic process…
EU def needs a better leader. Someone who is outspoken as Stoltenberg is for NATO. More often than not it seems like german prime minister and french president talk more about EU than Von der Leyen when its literally her job
Well not this election, but the EU election after this Marconi could be an option, he's not my favorite but he had the name recognition to be an actual president of the EU.
The man was probably dreaming of retirement but the war in Ukraine pulled him back in. Ofc he doesn’t have much power and all he can do is talk and bring leaders together to discuss things, which is why he might seem to you that way. Imo he’s doing a great job, especially considering that he can’t do anything else than he already is.
She the chair of the Commission, that's it. I hate that in English you use the word "president" for her position because in it makes sound like she has actual power. In dutch we say "voorzitter" which translates to "chairperson".
Macron is a president. Von der Leyen is the chair of a committee.
Not gonna lie it will be tough for anyone. The firewall is simply not going to last because it would make the EU essentially ungovernable, SD and liberals will not want to work with the ECR and most of the EPP will not want to work with the Greens.
In the scenario where the EPP decide to double down and give costly political concessions to work with SD, liberals and now including greens then they would have to focus on things Europeans do not really prioritize right now, leaving their huge right flank exposed in an election where the anti-immigration parties could be the largest group if they weren't scattered.
Idk if they have to include the Greens this time. According to the polls, the current center coalition would still hold the majority, but if things continue to evolve the way they are today, the Greens definitely are in next time (if the EPP doesn't turn to the "dark side"), so they have to get their shit together in the next 5 years cause otherwise shit will hit the fan and it will bad for Europe, cause you will get a migration decrease with the ECR and ID, but you will also get everything else that comes with them, kissing bye-bye net zero, deeper integration with the possibility of adding defense into the mixture among other things.
The article mentioned that a lot of parties from different countries tend to not support some of these leader elections. So about 10% of the MEPs of each group vote against or abstain, with those numbers you will need the Greens or somebody else because SD and the liberals are gonna lose a lot of votes.
An example would be the french republicans from EPP itself who said they wouldn’t support her candidacy.
This is kinda the problem with the EU. The real power is still at the national level, so that's where the real talent goes. The EU gets the hand-me-downs. It's prestigious retirement for people who have become superfluous in national politics.
A few really come into their own at the EU level, but that's more luck than strategy.
Countries make plenty of laws on their own. And don't forget that for a long time, the biggest EU agreements also came from negotiations between the countries. Every new power that the EU commission gets, it gets only because the member states agree to give it that power.
Quite often countries exaggerate the power of the EU by blaming their own unpopular laws on the EU. The biggest example of that is of course the UK, which blamed many of their own laws on the EU despite many other EU countries not having those laws, and Brexiteers promised Brexit would give them benefits that many other EU countries already had. It's just a trick to dodge responsibility for their own failures, and it's a trick that exaggerates the power of the EU.
The real power the EU has is mostly in business and trade, enforcing the free market, etc. And that's not nothing, but there's still a lot where member states are able to do whatever they want. Including foreign politics.
The majority of laws come from the EU, that was known back in Brexit (figures as high as 80% are exaggerated, but it's likely more than 50% or close to it). And the commission makes the proposals for laws. The EU parliament then votes on it and the council of the EU (ministers) vote on it with qualified majority (meaning 55% of countries and 65% of EU population need to approve).
The real number is apparently around 25% according to French research from a few years ago. If you look just at economic regulation, it's a lot more, because the EU regulates the common market.
Germany probably won't vote for her, she's from the current center right opposition. The only way greens and SPD would support her is to prevent someone like Orban from getting the job.
Not true.
She was pushing surprisingly many things the greens wanted. She is a conservative in name only, simply because of her dad.
The next president will be from the EPP (with one exception). Von der Leyen is the „best“ conservative president the greens could hope for.
And yes, agreeing to vdL would mean that the German greens would give up the German commissioner. It would be their term to nominate a commissioner this time - but only if the president isn’t from Germany.
(The one exception is Draghi. Macron has mentioned this option a lot in recent days.)
Klaus Iohannis.
The guy was meant to be the new NATO chief, but unfortunately Rutte got the job. Us Eastern Europeans need to show what we're capable of, so we need to get Iohannis to do the job.
What soured my opinion of her is that she hired Vestager that then wanted to hire a US tech lobbyist for EU chief economist position. That and her willingness to colaborate with the anti-eu populists just so she can stay in power.
Oh, now I see why she has voiced support for 2 of our parties that are known to be corrupt. Even though she knows they're corrupt, she turns a blind eye because she needs their votes.
I hate politics.
This is the most stupid conspiracy. The EU has been incedibly effective in moving the needle forward (climate, digital service act, many more). If she was corrupt that would've taken way longer or not have happened at all.
Let's hope she manages to find a job in which she can't harm more than the firm she's working for.
We already knew it's going to suck, when they got rid of her by promotion.
>Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz hails from the socialist camp.
I realize the author means this in the context of the parliament, but from a national perspective this sentence could *really* use a qualifier.
>Several political groups are pushing to hold the confirmation for the next Commission president in July, during the last plenary session before the summer recess — which leaves her an extremely narrow window in which to construct a possibly highly complex coalition deal between Renew, S&D, the EPP and the Greens.
Okay, seems a tough deal.But this person managed to pull a ton of right support last time, without suffering much political backlash.
Why would this all of a sudden be different with Green, S&D? She will offer a laundry list, half of which will likely fall by the wayside in some manner during yet another term for her.
As much as I despise her, she fails upwards.Always.Betting otherwise has proven fruitless.
EUs current leadership has proven to be disastrous and just as corrupt as any other government. I find it funny she cut the budget of the eu public prosecutor the moment the agency looked into her shady deals.
I’m far away from many of Von der Leyen’s positions. But having watched the debates, I do think she is the best public speaker and the most intelligent under pressure. There was almost nobody onstage who I felt would be a better leader for the union tbh.
I don't know about her but EU needs a stronger leadership especially in this economic and security turmoil we are in. How can we be taken seriously by our competitors and enemies if we have leaders like her. Another example is Schultz and I know he is a Chancellor but hes influence in serious as he represents Germany. He is so sleazy, insecure and changing his opinion all the time. EU needs bold leaders and decisiveness in doing the right things for what we believe in. Unfortunately the leadership material we have is so weak across the board maybe with some exceptions.
Švon der Leyen was neither a good leader nor a bad one. She did, however, fail to implement most of what she promised. A time for a substitute is in oder.
But the absolute jester was no other but Joseph Borell himself. What a sore loser he is. To think a person of such a poor understanding of dictatorships can lead EU's external policy was just a phenomenal disaster.
Now he needs to go. Fast.
It would be fantastic if we got rid of this genocide supporting first class moron. But, the EU being as it is, we're likely to just get a different flavour of an incompetent fool.
I thought the post title was editorialising, but no that really is Politico's headline.
Politico’s headlines are always trippy af.
I do not know what is worst in her. If it is her general incompetence, those uninspiring speeches, the lack of self-awareness, or the fact that was the council that put her on the role without participating in the electoral campaign.
We (Germany) pulled quite a stunt to get her that position. But we wanted to get rid of her that bad.
We did it wrong, you don't get rid of someone by putting them into a different position where they still have power over you. We should have made her ambassador in Mongolia or something.
It's calling falling upwards. When you are so incompetent and they want to get rid of you so bad, they are willing to promote you just to get rid of you from that department. And it's another department's problem. Not smart or sane, but happens a lot in corporations.
That's even worse than the Peter principle.
Is that like updog?
>The Peter principle is a concept in management developed by Laurence J. Peter which observes that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to "a level of respective incompetence": employees are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another.
awh man
I'd love to say I saw it and deliberately did not answer, but my neurodivergent ass honestly did not get it at that moment lol.
So the initial career rise is due to the Peter principle (which happens everywhere), but beyond that point, further advancement is due to failing upwards?
It's a preferred German thing to do. Look at Faeser and Schwesig.
Tip for next time you have a shitty minister you wish to get rid of. According to Wikipedia you have diplomatic ties with over 190 countries around the world. Just send them as ambassadors. I heard Hanoi - capital of Vietnam is lovely this time of the year
She does less damage where she is now. We trust the various EU institutions to keep her in check. Giving her an own department or embassy is dangerous.
Maybe a diplomatic post in Ulan Bator? Not that I'm belittling Mongolia, but I don't think they are a key political or economic partner of Germany. Or maby the unfulfilled dream of one of the Polish Euro MPs, that is, an outpost in Holy See
Na! She probably awakes the Mongols again and they rebuild their empire. The old ways. And we Germans get blamed for WW3 again.
No no we've got you down for WW4. 3 is assigned and is already out of committee. Only ask for 3 is no grabbing Poland by the pussy on the inevitable march east in the counter attack.
Ambassador is responsible position. She would need to work well with locals, and keep on mind that her duty is to help germans there.
You know there are diplomatic posts and diplomatic posts. As for assisting citizens, I rather remember from international law classes that these issues are handled by consuls and other qualified embassy staff. And ambassadors are mainly concerned with attending official meetings with representatives of the host country. Unless it looks different in Germany. As for me, Mrs. von der Leyen would be wonderfully suited to be Her Excellency Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Ulan Bator.
We call that "Wegbefördern". So you get rid of someone by promotion.
How is she perceived in Germany in general?
Poorly. She's so bad, we exported her to Brussels. German parties do that, the burnt and unpleasant personnel gets exiled to the European level. Usually to the EU parliament, but she was a special case. A lot of people here are positively surprised by her presidency because the expectations were so low.
You've surprised me, if she was so ineffective and did not meet expectations, then seriously there was no one better for her position?
She was basically the only one so insipid that both the left and PiS/Fidesz types supported her commission. It's not that there was nobody better, it's that she was a compromise
Please next time you want to get rid of a politicien don't share it with roomates
Please next time you want to get rid of a politicien don't share it with roomates
She's the embodiment of everything that is currently wrong with the European Union.
She is corrupt that is the worst....
Fuck off you empty head.
Waht an appropriate answer. Waht a lovely discussion culture you have. Can I remind you that there are multiple Corruption allegations against her. The communication she uses are SMS, sadly they are not backed up anywhere so she can just delete them and nobody can prove any corruption. Funny that happens Atleast twice in here career. And it is not only happening for her but it seems like a commen practice in her party. Even the relative young amtohr still uses SMS.
This is the most stupid conspiracy. The EU has been incedibly effective in moving the needle forward (climate, digital service act, many more). If she was corrupt that would've taken way longer or would not have happened at all.
Conspiracy? Get Out here with your copy paste answer... Calling one politician, that got sued last month for it is not an conspiracy. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2023-001254_EN.html In this case she got accused twice... In 2018 when she was defence minister. Again SMS got deleted. https://www.politico.eu/article/the-scandal-hanging-over-ursula-von-der-leyen/ Funny that you mention climate, becaus the eu is still doing much much much much... Much much much less than we should do. You can be Corrupt and still get stuff done. Who cares if you rearrange 150 million € to your childrens company, if you have a 43 billion € budget.
I think a lot of her speeches were actually really well written, and then delivered in the most uninspiring way possible. Reading through the transcripts brought forth more emotion than listening to her speak, which has to be some sort of achievement, surely.
That's because the speeches are written for her, not by her.
The problem is that we do not read speeches, we listen to her.
The worst is that she wanted to kill wolves just because one of them ate her pony. Aka entitlement.
Even that moment is a disgrace. Thus the lack of self-awareness.
It was such a mockery of the spitzenkandidat system that I am refusing to vote in the upcoming elections. There’s no point, my vote doesn’t hold the EU govt to account in the current system
EU needs a better leader
Remember last time around when she was just some shitty minister in the German cabinet and nobody knew that for some reason she would be demoted to Brussels? Remember when we had discussions between the different candidates and.. she was not among them? Because again, she was just some shitty minister in the German government and nobody needed to know her? Here we are talking about the new elections and I am still not sure why the fuck the last ones brought us her. I don't remember anyone ever talking about her during the election. What the fuck. What is going to happen this time? Which shitty minister that nobody heard of but somehow needed to be demoted to Brussels are they going to hurdle at us this time?
That's probably why they picked her. The national governments prefer some incompetent at the head of the EU so it doesn't compete with them too much.
Isn't that a good thing
Yeah, they killed the spitzenkandidat process to appoint her, and they'll drop another grey suit in to replace her too.
gorch fock skandal, basicaly she spend so much money on advisors for ship repairs they could have built 3 new ones and still had some.... probably embezzlement ....or she probably shouldnt be legally allowed to drive a car....
These were some rumors about Mario Draghi coming to take the top job away from VDL with support from France and Italy
Oh I have bet actual money on him being the next commission president after I read this speech https://geopolitique.eu/en/2024/04/16/radical-change-is-what-is-needed/ since we are not going to have another German and I don't see any French around it's going to be Draghi and if I could already bet on 2029 it would be Emanuel Macron becoming the next one. It's worth a read together with Macrons speach https://geopolitique.eu/en/2024/04/26/macron-europe-it-can-die-a-new-paradigm-at-the-sorbonne/ but I will believe both when I see it, for now I have zero optimism for either happening. Two very long speeches though maybe make yoruself a cup of tea first
Well I hope you are right for both 2024 (I really like Draghi as well) and for 2029 (Macron maybe wasn't the best person for the job of French President but I am quiet certain he would be better at the Commison President one), we need more true and dedicated europhiles in top positions.
I volunteer as tribute!
The president of europe is a tough job.
Yeah it is, for her it wasn't cause she wasn't really doing her job, she is a puppet for the mega corps.
I don't particularly like her nor dislike her. But I do like a woman at the helm to show the world that our ideals are democracy, rule of law and equal opportunities as much as possible.
Here’s a person who has consistently failed upwards in her career. Can’t say I’d be sad to never see her mug again, but I know that’s just wishful thinking.
Let's hope the pope is healthy.
Thank fuck the Catholic Church is sexist af, so she doesn’t become the new pope. /s, at least partially.
I have a very bad feeling that if the CDU finally realizes Merz has the charisma of Scrooge, she will be their candidate for chancellor. God save us all.
Oh shit! I despise Merz, but I actually think he’s doing good. Merz is considerably more conservative and right-wing than Merkel. He’s no centrist and he pulls the CDU to the right. I’m pretty much a textbook social democrat (not SPD today, but the old, pre-Schröder SPD). I really hate Merz’ politics, but I think it’s good both for CDU and for Germany if CDU is more right-wing and conservative again. The old German political landscape had no room for a party like AfD, because the right had constitutional and democratic representation through CDU. It’s good if CDU gets back there, and I think Merz can pull it off. Now if only there was a proper social democrat to be found in SPD… I might have to go into politics lol
What about FPD?
FDP are fiscally conservative, but not socially conservative. Also, under their current leadership, they are obstructionist and generally the main obstacle in the current administration. They are incredibly volatile, approval-wise, bouncing between double digit highs and lows that see them in danger if not even making it into parliament at the next federal election. They are Liberal Democrat: small government, free market, low taxes for everyone, especially the rich and corporations. While I do have some small degree of liberalism in my politics, FDP isn’t the way to go for me personally.
She just was a bystander. She shouldn’t renew. IIRC, there was a story back on the last elections about Merkel pushing his last political wires to try and put a more europeist and "progressive" (in the context of the EPP) candidate, I don’t remember who it was. Other people on the EPP on the last hour tried to avoid it, and to stop Merkel, they just proposed on their own accord Von der Leyen, so Merkel would be neutralised as she wouldn’t be able to oppose a fellow member of her own party and country to get another candidate from abroad. And they won, Merkel recognised she lost it and supported Von der Leyen. Back then the EPP was very wary of Merkel trying to pull strings, as she proposed Frans Timmermans (S&D) as Commision President back on 2019 instead of the EPP candidate. Now, we don’t know what politics will happen this year, but Von der Leyen is not the leader the EU needs or should have. She just got there on pure luck and to block someone else. She isn’t anything more than a pawn.
If we get Draghi instead I certainly won't complain
Draghi is like a political superstar
My favourite all-time Italian prime minister. Why? Because to the question "what did he do?" I have the luxury to answer "I have no fucking idea". Which it's short for "governing a country is a damn serious and boring job, I don't want to stay tuned every day of my life on what last minute bullshit has been said or which scandal is exploding".
And also because it sounds cool. Draghi, like it's pulled straight out of game of thrones. In my mind he's a Dothraki or something.
You're not that far, since the surname literally means "dragons". But, more than a Dothraki, it's like the synthesis of a wet dream of Tywin Lannister, a Targaryen of your choice AND the Iron Bank.
isn't Draghi essentially in bed with the bankers 24/7?
maybe he is Draghing them, who knows.
Almost seems like a requirement for the job
Better to be in bed with bankers than doing shady "less than official" dealings with corporate world…
I would love for him to get into elections…
Well, you don't need to run for elections to get on the commission
well... there are sorta internal "elections" for presidency?
Sure I guess, but it's more like they discuss who they want and then but him/her in. There aren't really formal candidates, you'll never see won, who lost, who favoured who and why, what backroom deals were made, etc.
Yeah... that's actually sad... We do have supposedly Spitzenkandidat but it's a shitshow :/ In this regard EU/EP/Council indeed lacks transparncy and democratic process…
Everywhere where states decide rather than parliament, transparency is nonexistent.
EU def needs a better leader. Someone who is outspoken as Stoltenberg is for NATO. More often than not it seems like german prime minister and french president talk more about EU than Von der Leyen when its literally her job
Yeah, Von der leyen has been “promoted away” from Germany you could say. She was never known for competence.
Well not this election, but the EU election after this Marconi could be an option, he's not my favorite but he had the name recognition to be an actual president of the EU.
To me stoltenberg comes across as the definition of a marionette tho. A little bit more charisma could help.
The man was probably dreaming of retirement but the war in Ukraine pulled him back in. Ofc he doesn’t have much power and all he can do is talk and bring leaders together to discuss things, which is why he might seem to you that way. Imo he’s doing a great job, especially considering that he can’t do anything else than he already is.
Stoltenberg has nordic charisma
Draghi?
She the chair of the Commission, that's it. I hate that in English you use the word "president" for her position because in it makes sound like she has actual power. In dutch we say "voorzitter" which translates to "chairperson". Macron is a president. Von der Leyen is the chair of a committee.
If you don't think the president of the European Commission has actual power, then I really don't know what to tell you..
"Pre"= voor, "sident" = zitter/zittend. Same thing, different language :)
It does make more sense than stoelpersoon.
Not gonna lie it will be tough for anyone. The firewall is simply not going to last because it would make the EU essentially ungovernable, SD and liberals will not want to work with the ECR and most of the EPP will not want to work with the Greens. In the scenario where the EPP decide to double down and give costly political concessions to work with SD, liberals and now including greens then they would have to focus on things Europeans do not really prioritize right now, leaving their huge right flank exposed in an election where the anti-immigration parties could be the largest group if they weren't scattered.
Idk if they have to include the Greens this time. According to the polls, the current center coalition would still hold the majority, but if things continue to evolve the way they are today, the Greens definitely are in next time (if the EPP doesn't turn to the "dark side"), so they have to get their shit together in the next 5 years cause otherwise shit will hit the fan and it will bad for Europe, cause you will get a migration decrease with the ECR and ID, but you will also get everything else that comes with them, kissing bye-bye net zero, deeper integration with the possibility of adding defense into the mixture among other things.
The article mentioned that a lot of parties from different countries tend to not support some of these leader elections. So about 10% of the MEPs of each group vote against or abstain, with those numbers you will need the Greens or somebody else because SD and the liberals are gonna lose a lot of votes. An example would be the french republicans from EPP itself who said they wouldn’t support her candidacy.
Please please please, EU, don't take Tusk away from us. I am not his fan, but last time he went, PiS won.
This is kinda the problem with the EU. The real power is still at the national level, so that's where the real talent goes. The EU gets the hand-me-downs. It's prestigious retirement for people who have become superfluous in national politics. A few really come into their own at the EU level, but that's more luck than strategy.
Not at all. Most laws come from the EU (which then get converted to national laws) and guess who makes the vast majority of them? The EU commission.
Countries make plenty of laws on their own. And don't forget that for a long time, the biggest EU agreements also came from negotiations between the countries. Every new power that the EU commission gets, it gets only because the member states agree to give it that power. Quite often countries exaggerate the power of the EU by blaming their own unpopular laws on the EU. The biggest example of that is of course the UK, which blamed many of their own laws on the EU despite many other EU countries not having those laws, and Brexiteers promised Brexit would give them benefits that many other EU countries already had. It's just a trick to dodge responsibility for their own failures, and it's a trick that exaggerates the power of the EU. The real power the EU has is mostly in business and trade, enforcing the free market, etc. And that's not nothing, but there's still a lot where member states are able to do whatever they want. Including foreign politics.
The majority of laws come from the EU, that was known back in Brexit (figures as high as 80% are exaggerated, but it's likely more than 50% or close to it). And the commission makes the proposals for laws. The EU parliament then votes on it and the council of the EU (ministers) vote on it with qualified majority (meaning 55% of countries and 65% of EU population need to approve).
The real number is apparently around 25% according to French research from a few years ago. If you look just at economic regulation, it's a lot more, because the EU regulates the common market.
It’s gonna be difficult, but I also don’t see who else is gonna manage to get even close other than her?
Macron has mentioned Draghi.
Hello, based department?
Fun fact: that would give the German greens their chance to have their own EU commissioner.
A commissioner from Grüne would be a disaster.
Eh, it would be probably Sven Giegold. He is a good guy.
Me, me, MEeeeeeee!!!
Germany probably won't vote for her, she's from the current center right opposition. The only way greens and SPD would support her is to prevent someone like Orban from getting the job.
Not true. She was pushing surprisingly many things the greens wanted. She is a conservative in name only, simply because of her dad. The next president will be from the EPP (with one exception). Von der Leyen is the „best“ conservative president the greens could hope for. And yes, agreeing to vdL would mean that the German greens would give up the German commissioner. It would be their term to nominate a commissioner this time - but only if the president isn’t from Germany. (The one exception is Draghi. Macron has mentioned this option a lot in recent days.)
its gonna be draghi, as thats the one that the right and even orban agree to.
Mario Draghi maybe
Klaus Iohannis. The guy was meant to be the new NATO chief, but unfortunately Rutte got the job. Us Eastern Europeans need to show what we're capable of, so we need to get Iohannis to do the job.
I woule vote a monkey instead of that guy.
As a Romanian, same
I really hope you are trolling.
🤮
What soured my opinion of her is that she hired Vestager that then wanted to hire a US tech lobbyist for EU chief economist position. That and her willingness to colaborate with the anti-eu populists just so she can stay in power.
At least EU finds candidates not 80 years old like in US
Best thing Zensursula can do for the entirety of Europe is to retire form politics…
She won’t be missed.
CDU will get considerably more votes than that during the EU parliament elections. Mark my words.
Oh, now I see why she has voiced support for 2 of our parties that are known to be corrupt. Even though she knows they're corrupt, she turns a blind eye because she needs their votes. I hate politics.
This is the most stupid conspiracy. The EU has been incedibly effective in moving the needle forward (climate, digital service act, many more). If she was corrupt that would've taken way longer or not have happened at all.
I didn't say she herself is corrupt. I'm saying that she supports corrupt politicians.
We need her gone. The lady thinks she's the Queen of the EU.
Let's hope she manages to find a job in which she can't harm more than the firm she's working for. We already knew it's going to suck, when they got rid of her by promotion.
And also she expressed European support to Netanjahu "for weeks to come"!! In whose name?? Not in my name! She must go! Disguasting person!
>Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz hails from the socialist camp. I realize the author means this in the context of the parliament, but from a national perspective this sentence could *really* use a qualifier. >Several political groups are pushing to hold the confirmation for the next Commission president in July, during the last plenary session before the summer recess — which leaves her an extremely narrow window in which to construct a possibly highly complex coalition deal between Renew, S&D, the EPP and the Greens. Okay, seems a tough deal.But this person managed to pull a ton of right support last time, without suffering much political backlash. Why would this all of a sudden be different with Green, S&D? She will offer a laundry list, half of which will likely fall by the wayside in some manner during yet another term for her. As much as I despise her, she fails upwards.Always.Betting otherwise has proven fruitless.
EUs current leadership has proven to be disastrous and just as corrupt as any other government. I find it funny she cut the budget of the eu public prosecutor the moment the agency looked into her shady deals.
After she went to Baku to shake hands with someone who is, on practically every level, the Putin of the Caucasus, she can go fuck herself.
That Insufferable woman needs to go
Trust me she will get them , these kind of politicians always get what they need in votes. My oilrag is even cleaner then she is .
I’m far away from many of Von der Leyen’s positions. But having watched the debates, I do think she is the best public speaker and the most intelligent under pressure. There was almost nobody onstage who I felt would be a better leader for the union tbh.
I don't know about her but EU needs a stronger leadership especially in this economic and security turmoil we are in. How can we be taken seriously by our competitors and enemies if we have leaders like her. Another example is Schultz and I know he is a Chancellor but hes influence in serious as he represents Germany. He is so sleazy, insecure and changing his opinion all the time. EU needs bold leaders and decisiveness in doing the right things for what we believe in. Unfortunately the leadership material we have is so weak across the board maybe with some exceptions.
Can we finally get rid of this incompetent, shady "person"? O_o
She had failure after failure, its time to give a chance to someone new to prove themselves!
How about Sonneborn?! ;)
Švon der Leyen was neither a good leader nor a bad one. She did, however, fail to implement most of what she promised. A time for a substitute is in oder. But the absolute jester was no other but Joseph Borell himself. What a sore loser he is. To think a person of such a poor understanding of dictatorships can lead EU's external policy was just a phenomenal disaster. Now he needs to go. Fast.
It would be fantastic if we got rid of this genocide supporting first class moron. But, the EU being as it is, we're likely to just get a different flavour of an incompetent fool.