‘Unable to cope’: Germans condemn own candidate for top EU job
Ursula von der Leyen is so divisive at home that Germany abstained from the vote to nominate her
If the European parliament approves Ursula von der Leyen’s nomination in two weeks’ time, the German defence minister will make for an unusual European commission president: a consensus candidate who has won the approval of western liberals and eastern rightwingers, yet is proving divisive in her home country.
The French president, Emanuel Macron, has praised the 60-year-old for having “the DNA of the European community”, while the conservative Polish newspaper Gazeta Polska has hailed her nomination as a “historic choice”. However, in Germany the prospect of a German filling the commission presidency for the first time in 52 years has been met with outcries across the political spectrum.