With six executive vice-presidents balancing political families, geography and gender, Ursula von der Leyen has cemented her personal power in her second term as European Commission president while subtly tilting the EU executive to the right politically and to the east geographically.
The new 27-member commission unveiled on Tuesday illustrates her commitment to making the European economy greener, more competitive and more secure, and her ruthlessness in wielding power to crush critics, reward loyalty and punish those who do not cooperate with her. Her eviction of the powerful French industry commissioner Thierry Breton, who had criticised her personal governance style, and the demotion of Hungary’s Olivér Várhelyi to the health and animal welfare job in a snub to the nationalist Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, illustrate her determination to show who is the boss.
Assuming that the European parliament broadly endorses her appointments, the former German defence minister has created a structure with an array of overlapping portfolios, ensuring that she will be the ultimate arbiter on all key issues – the budget, defence, climate legislation and economic regulation.
The matrix is meant to promote joined-up thinking and help implement the ambitious proposals for an investment-led European industrial renaissance outlined by the former European Central Bank president Mario Draghi in a report unveiled last week, which she mentioned repeatedly in detailed mission letters to each team member. But whether weak and tight-fisted EU governments will be willing to generate the massive funds required to finance those ideas is far from certain.
Von der Leyen’s centre-right European People’s party (EPP), the largest force in the parliament and........