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Politico (14 March 2024)

BY NICHOLAS VINOCUR

Ursula von der Leyen hasn’t named a campaign director yet to lead her bid for a second term at the head of the EU executive — but campaign hostilities have already started.

Only days after a nod from her conservative camp to be their “lead candidate” in June’s Europe-wide election, she already warded off two significant challenges from would-be allies. 

Such attacks represent a rough start to campaigning for a Commission chief who has managed — and, many would argue, thrived — to distance herself in her 9-to-5 from everyday politics as she led the bloc’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, economic crisis, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Her quasi-regal style has even earned her the somewhat affectionate moniker “Queen von der Leyen” among Brussels insiders.

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