I have profiled Ursula von der Leyen.
Her remarkable career is little-known outside Germany, but it's a staggering tale of up-and-coming families minister, Merkel favourite, scandal-hit defence minister whose career looked done then top job in Europe https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/09/europe/ursula-von-der-leyen-profile-intl/index.html
Her remarkable career is little-known outside Germany, but it's a staggering tale of up-and-coming families minister, Merkel favourite, scandal-hit defence minister whose career looked done then top job in Europe https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/09/europe/ursula-von-der-leyen-profile-intl/index.html
Highlights
Born into a political dynasty, VDL is unusual in German politics. Her dad was PM of lower Saxony and an early EU civil servant. Merkel once favoured her as successor.
The UK-EU vaccine spat has caused many in Berlin to smirk at her failures https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/09/europe/ursula-von-der-leyen-profile-intl/index.html
Born into a political dynasty, VDL is unusual in German politics. Her dad was PM of lower Saxony and an early EU civil servant. Merkel once favoured her as successor.
The UK-EU vaccine spat has caused many in Berlin to smirk at her failures https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/09/europe/ursula-von-der-leyen-profile-intl/index.html
"She belongs to our political elite," says Erich Vad, Merkel's former defence adviser. "Not only is she from an upper-class background, but she was also one of Angela Merkel's favorites. In German politics, many will have been jealous of her" https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/09/europe/ursula-von-der-leyen-profile-intl/index.html
The main criticisms of her come from those who believe that her ambition was greater than her interest in doing whatever the job was in front of her. In the case of German defence minister, many thought she focussed too heavily on her own PR https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/09/europe/ursula-von-der-leyen-profile-intl/index.html
She wanted to reform the forces, but do so by picking fights with the top brass and alienate her. This meant that when big scandals broke around procurement and far-right soldiers plotting internal terror plots, plenty were happy to brief against her https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/09/europe/ursula-von-der-leyen-profile-intl/index.html
Many believe that her handling of the vaccines spat -- esp blaming her subordinates -- is all of the VDL playbook. She might be the most ambitious EU Commission President in history, but her credibility is taking a hit at a European level https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/09/europe/ursula-von-der-leyen-profile-intl/index.html