The ego war goes beyond national companies. The French and Germans still has underlying rivalry between each other. Remember when France and Germany had a spat that their own compatriot must become the next EU commissioner? The compromise had been the current EU commissioner, Von der Leyen, even though she is an incompetent politician according to the Germans.
Von der Leyen, even though she is an incompetent politician according to the Germans.
Unfortunately, I have the impression that something where French, German, and almost every other European nation agree is that the EU commission is a “golden retirerment” for incompetent but powerful politicians rather than the place where you send the best of the bests
Where does this claim of incompetence come from? I remember her as Family Minister, Labour Minister and Defense Minister under Merkel, and she was definetely one of the most competent and progressive ministers in these cabinets, which lead to her being not backed by the conservative wing of the CDU and sent off to Brussels. Not because of incompetency, but because of being too competent and too progressive. After she became President of the European commission I cannot recall reports or claims of incompetency either until a couple of years ago everybody just began to agree that she’s incompetent without providing any example. So where’s her current incompetence? What did I miss?
Von der Leyen is blamed for neglecting the state of the German army. Many units have sorely outdated equipment and living conditions of barracks not being looked after. Many barracks are too cold to sleep in iirc. To be honest, I haven’t delved into it much but this is what Germans in Reddit and others mentioned.
So where’s her current incompetence? What did I miss?
There is the Pfizergate, which Von der Leyen made deals with Pfizer for the covid vaccines through text messages, which is very informal and unprofessional.
Von der Leyen previously used her phone to award contracts worth several hundred million euros while acting as defense minister of Germany, effectively bypassing public procurement processes. She subsequently deleted all messages from her phone when investigators probed her. While awarding the COVID-19 vaccine contracts worth billions of euros as head of EU commission, she similarly bypassed procurement processes via her phone and withheld messages on it.
Thank you for the Pfizergate link. Her handling of COVID was pretty bad, that’s true.
Regarding the sorry state of the German army – the Bundeswehr was neglected by every single government since the reunification, and von der Leyen was one of the few, if not the only defense minister in 30 years who addressed the issue and tried to improve the state of the army. It’s more complicated than competent/incompetent.
Von der Leyen is the compromise between Macron and Merkel at the time.
Additionally, the general view is that politicians deemed incompetent in their countries are sent to the EU, where they could “do little damage”. The thing is with Von der Leyen, is that they gave her one of the most important positions in the EU despite the perceived poor track record of hers. I think you may be right that she was installed because favouritism also played part.
The ego war goes beyond national companies. The French and Germans still has underlying rivalry between each other. Remember when France and Germany had a spat that their own compatriot must become the next EU commissioner? The compromise had been the current EU commissioner, Von der Leyen, even though she is an incompetent politician according to the Germans.
Unfortunately, I have the impression that something where French, German, and almost every other European nation agree is that the EU commission is a “golden retirerment” for incompetent but powerful politicians rather than the place where you send the best of the bests
Where does this claim of incompetence come from? I remember her as Family Minister, Labour Minister and Defense Minister under Merkel, and she was definetely one of the most competent and progressive ministers in these cabinets, which lead to her being not backed by the conservative wing of the CDU and sent off to Brussels. Not because of incompetency, but because of being too competent and too progressive. After she became President of the European commission I cannot recall reports or claims of incompetency either until a couple of years ago everybody just began to agree that she’s incompetent without providing any example. So where’s her current incompetence? What did I miss?
Von der Leyen is blamed for neglecting the state of the German army. Many units have sorely outdated equipment and living conditions of barracks not being looked after. Many barracks are too cold to sleep in iirc. To be honest, I haven’t delved into it much but this is what Germans in Reddit and others mentioned.
There is the Pfizergate, which Von der Leyen made deals with Pfizer for the covid vaccines through text messages, which is very informal and unprofessional.
Thank you for the Pfizergate link. Her handling of COVID was pretty bad, that’s true.
Regarding the sorry state of the German army – the Bundeswehr was neglected by every single government since the reunification, and von der Leyen was one of the few, if not the only defense minister in 30 years who addressed the issue and tried to improve the state of the army. It’s more complicated than competent/incompetent.
That is a perspective I’ve never heard. To the best of my knowledge, she was simply installed by Merkel because of personal favoritism.
Von der Leyen is the compromise between Macron and Merkel at the time.
Additionally, the general view is that politicians deemed incompetent in their countries are sent to the EU, where they could “do little damage”. The thing is with Von der Leyen, is that they gave her one of the most important positions in the EU despite the perceived poor track record of hers. I think you may be right that she was installed because favouritism also played part.