Luis G. MacDowell

Ursula von der Leyen – a symbol of Europe's decay. Her rise has nothing to do with merit and everything to do with family ties and elite networks. Her tenure as Germany’s Defence Minister was an international embarrassment: military readiness collapsed, procurement scandals exploded, and billions were wasted on overpriced consulting contracts. In any functioning country, that would end a political career. In Brussels, it earns you a promotion. As President of the European Commission, von der Leyen has no strategic mind and no geopolitical instinct. Under her, the EU has become a vassal institution: obedient, self-censoring, and addicted to external approval. She has no sense of what European sovereignty means, and even less interest in building it. She governs like a monarch—bypassing democratic processes, punishing dissenting member states, and using "rule of law" rhetoric as a political weapon. She doesn't serve Europe. She manages its decline. Plastic, fluent, and empty—she's everything the EU has become. A facade of unity masking paralysis. A commission president who says everything, means nothing, and delivers little beyond bureaucracy and ideological enforcement.