The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, is right about the challenges Brussels faces. Far more ambition is required if they are to be met
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elivering her state of the union address in Brussels last week, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, painted a grim but accurate picture of the challenges faced by Europe as the first quarter of the 21st century draws to a close. “A world of imperial ambitions and imperial wars,” she noted, is “a world in which dependencies are ruthlessly weaponised. And it is for all of these reasons that a new Europe must emerge.”
Few would quibble with that analysis. As Ms von der Leyen spoke, the news that Nato aircraft had shot down Russian drones over Poland graphically underscored her point. In an era of great power rivalry in which the United States has become an unreliable ally, there is an emerging consensus that the European Union must be more robust in defending its own interests and championing its own values.
Whether Ms von der Leyen is the right leader to help deliver that is another matter. Her second term has thus far been defined by diplomatic passivity beyond the EU’s borders and a painful lack of ambition within them. On Ukraine and Gaza, as the former president of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi recently pointed out, Brussels has mostly been “a spectator” as Donald Trump’s contentious peacemaking efforts have been brazenly ignored by Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu.
