Yves here. Our Nick Corbishley has often criticized Ursula von der Leyen’s corruption and willingness to boost predictably bad aggressively neoliberal/neocon policy idea. But her pending re-installation as the queen of Europe the president of the European Commission provides yet another opportunity to review her sorry record. One indicator of her incompetence: she’s managed to make her predecessor Jean-Claude Juncker look good.
And please welcome our new contributor George Georgiou. If you are nice to him, perhaps he will submit other posts.
By George Georgiou, an economist who for many years worked at the Central Bank of Cyprus in various senior roles, including Head of Governor’s Office during the financial crisis
To be accused of impropriety on one occasion may be regarded as a misfortune but to be accused on four occasions looks like carelessness. (With apologies to Oscar Wilde)
If there is one individual who, more than anyone else, symbolises the ineptitude of the European Commission then it is surely the Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen (hereafter, VDL).
Questions about VDL’s lack of probity first surfaced in 2015 when she was accused of plagiarising her doctoral dissertation. She was eventually cleared of the accusations but as the BBC reported on 9 March 2016, the president of the Hannover Medical School, Christopher Baum, conceded that “Ms von der Leyen’s thesis did contain plagiarised material”, but he added “there had been no intent to deceive”. Her first lucky escape.
VDL’s lack of probity continued while she served as Germany’s Minister of Defence between 2013 and 2019. During her tenure at the ministry, she became embroiled in a scandal regarding payments of €250 million to consultants related to arms contracts. Germany’s Federal Audit Office found that, of the €250 million declared for consultancy fees, only €5.1 million had been spent. Furthermore, one of the consultants was McKinsey & Company, where VDL’s son was an associate, thus raising a possible conflict of interest. It also emerged that messages related to the contracts had been deleted from two of VDL’s mobile phones. Although she was eventually cleared of corruption allegations, questions over her probity during that period remain to this day.
Having survived two scandals, VDL couldn’t believe her luck when in July 2019 Macron, together with Merkel, bypassed the Spitzenkadidaten process and nominated her as Jean-Claude Junker’s successor as head of the European Commission. The Spitzenkadidaten process, through which the lead candidate emerges and is then ratified by the European Parliament, is itself somewhat arcane. In VDL’s case, she was fortunate that the EU couldn’t agree on either of the two lead candidates at the time, Martin Weber and Frans Timmermans. It was thus left to the consummate fixer, Macron, and VDL’s mentor, Merkel, to come to an agreement using that great democratic and transparent tool called the ‘backroom deal’. VDL’s nomination was accepted by the European Council and on 16 July the European Parliament voted to accept her appointment. But it was a close vote. Out of a total of 747 MEPs, only 383 voted for her, 327 voted against, 22 abstained, and one vote was invalid. Under the EU rules, the president of the Commission must be elected with more than 50% of the MEP votes. Thus, she received only 9 votes more than the threshold. Compare this to her predecessor, Juncker, who in 2014 received 422 votes.
After she was appointed president of the European Commission, VDL again became embroiled in controversy, this time involving the procurement of the Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer. The scandal, which the media dubbed Pfizergate, related to the purchase of 1.8 billion doses of the Pfizer vaccine for use across the EU. It transpired that: a) the number of doses was far greater than was required, resulting in a significant number having to be either destroyed or donated; b) the excess doses cost the EU €4 billion; c) the total value of the contract, which Politico reported as being approximately €20 billion, was inflated; and d) the most damaging charge, the contract for the vaccines was negotiated directly between VDL and Albert Bourla, the CEO of Pfizer. The negotiations were conducted using sms messages, which VDL later claimed to have deleted.
The New York Times, which initially carried out the investigation into Pfizergate, brought a lawsuit against the European Commission for failing to provide access to the sms conversations between VDL and Bourla. In Belgium, a lobbyist, Frederic Baldan, filed a criminal complaint citing corruption and the destruction of documents. The Belgian lawsuit was eventually taken over by the European Public Prosecutors Office, which opened a criminal investigation. The outcome of these legal proceedings/investigations is still pending.
One would have thought that the imprudent VDL would have learned a lesson from all these transgressions but it seems that nothing will stand in the way of Ursula and a good scandal. Which brings us to her latest impropriety, cronyism. In January of this year, VDL had appointed fellow CDU politician, Martin Pieper, to a newly created and lucrative post of special envoy for SMEs. The appointment was reported by La Matinale Europeenne in February but it wasn’t until April that the controversy surrounding the appointment received wide coverage in the English language media.
The appointment was controversial for two reasons: 1) the recruitment process was flawed and 2) the choice of Pieper was seen as politically motivated. On the first issue, it was revealed by an anonymous EU official that there had been two other candidates, one from Sweden and one from the Czech Republic, who had scored better than Pieper in the recruitment process.
On the second issue, there was strong suspicion that Pieper had been chosen by VDL in order to curry favour with the CDU and thus win their backing for her reappointment as head of the European Commission. The appointment sparked a strong response both from other members of the Commission and from MEPs. Four senior Commissioners, including Joseph Borrell and the Internal Market Commissioner, Thiery Breton, wrote to VDL on 27 March expressing their concern about the appointment’s lack of transparency and impartiality. On 11 April, MEPs voted by 382 to 144 to rescind Pieper’s appointment. Although the vote was not binding on the Commission, Pieper’s position became untenable and on 16 April he resigned. In the words of Daniel Freund, a German/Greens MEP, reported on Euronews, it was “sad and shameful”. He added: “I don’t know how we can explain it to the voters”.
At the time of writing, Euronews has reported that a deal has been sealed for her reappointment. It’s not clear when the European Parliament will formerly vote for her but it’s likely to be later this week. The exact date is a trivial matter. What is not trivial is that VDL’s reappointment for another 5 years, despite all the improprieties mentioned above, would confirm what many have been advocating for some time, that the EU needs radical reform. EU citizens need to see that EU institutions are far more transparent, accountable and democratic.
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Maybe, I should ask if she is American? Stuff like this is routine with none of this being worse than what I have read for both federal and state level politicians. It does, however, make me less embarrassed about our politicians. This is pathetic, but true. I should do some reading on her, it’s that I have so many “interesting” Californians and Americans that are already on my list. My Governor, Gavin Newsom to start.
I would like to find out what other bribes, mutual hand washing, and I guess blackmail, that VDL used to get her position. I do have a dementia patient as my president, so I do not anything to gloat about. She just seems so bland, a nonentity holding her position because it is the thing to do, but what do I know? Biden has always had a certain attraction much like a train wreck does, so, he does get people’s attention. (Oh, it’s Biden again! Just what is the idiot doing now?)
American? I doubt any US secretary of defense would have survived arming the military with brooms….
But they do just fine arming the military with fragile and very expensive weapons that, like in the case of the F35, are something like 28% combat ready at any time, according to a recent report.
she is your typical bill clinton, tony blair free trader type.
but but brexit, we must rejoin the E.U.!
Aren’t these “leaders” simply avatars for the interests that hold the power? What original, independent thought or leadership does Obama, Biden, Bush or any of the presidents since the end of World War II have over US policy?
Her family for at least 500 years has been elite fixers in Germany. She inherited her status.
Think of her as a Littlefinger but without the talent.
She has family ties to slave trading/owning ancestors, notably James Ladson in the U.S.
https://x.com/RaniaKhalek/status/1722605935036621100
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ladson
Her great grandmother comes from a slave owning family in the American south.
The EU has become a hopeless cesspit of cronyism, incompetence and anti-democratic backscratching. It’s laughable when clowns such as VDL and Manfred Weber talk about something called “European values,” which presumably include intolerance for corruption, and then come to land a helping hand to a corrupt but reliable crony during a 2-in-1 election so that they can pick a couple of extra votes for VDL in the EP. Then they wonder why the EU is losing democratic legitimacy in most of Europe, but especially in the East, and why we observe the rise of far-right, anti-EU parties all over the place. That process is only bound to accelerate given that the PTB have decided to give us mote of the same.
Why should we be the only ones? After all our US leaders tend to become suspiciously wealthy while in office if they weren’t that way already. Then there’s the bureaucrats like Fauci–a zillionaire apparently.
Naturally with such universal grifting going on the mantra of the elites is “trust us–or else” (see today’s censorship post).
Could someone review the bidding on how the EU and the cult-of-personality hag came to hold all these reins of power and wealth? Was there some sort of broad plebiscite where all the formerly fairly fierce nations of Europe-the-Continent ceded all their national sovereignty to the bureaucratic overburden in Brussels?
I’m sure that has been the aim of People Who Matter for a long time, all part of legitimizing their kakistocracy of great wealth. But really, how the hell did the ‘Crats of Bruxelles get to dictate to the hundreds of millions of people in the nations (now apparently extinguished as a category), under the Boss Hawg Imperium?
Wondering if enough angst and anomic energy is accumulating in the populace to maybe result in dissociation back into less digestible competing/warring states, on the way to who knows what new state of metastability— of course, all under the shadow of the real threats to all our human existence, and that of all the species we will drag down into the fossil record with us…
Debuting with some Ursula von der Leyen-bashing is an excellent choice of topic. Welcome, George!
Apparently the EU MEP (muppets) are supposed to approve her. If you want to reach out to your EU Muppet, you can find them here
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/search/advanced?name=&euPoliticalGroupBodyRefNum=&countryCode=&bodyType=ALL
If you would like to contact Ursula’s team to tell them to tell Korruptula to stand down, you have them here
https://commissioners.ec.europa.eu/ursula-von-der-leyen/president-von-der-leyens-team_de
The new muppets start in three weeks or so, so unless your muppet is an old hand in Euro Parliament, you’re out of luck until then.
On the other hand, it kinda shows the unbearable lightness of the EU Parliament, that the elite and bureaucracy are kinda open about sharing the top positions even before the new parliament has assembled.
And then in the autumn we’re exposed for another round of articles how citizens feel the EU has a “democracy deficiency”, which is worrying (the feeling, not the deficiency).
Well, look at the upside. Since Europe’s trajectory is clearly determined, and there will be a litany of failures to address over the next five years, including the Ukraine war, de-industrialization, and up to potentially the EU spinning apart, much of the blame will be laid at her feet. Perhaps she’s being set up, but her vanity and corruption prevent her from seeing it.
She’ll do fine. A late career transition to a mid six figure, maybe seven figure income in consulting and foundation work awaits, or maybe a nice gig in the MIC. There is no failure at her level.
There is no failure at her level.
Oh yes there is, like everyone of her ilk, she always fails upwards.
I want the UK to reverse BREXIT, but even with good PR VDL is clear evidence of the EU being corrupt and unaccountable. Of course the UK is worse, but at least its our corruption. Rejoining the EU is the only way the UK will get proper workers/human rights.
I’ve come to the conclusion that we might as well replace all government with McKinsey consultants to cut out the middle men/women.
I’d recommend reading Bill Mitchell’s blog on VDL and EU corporatist elite slavering before committing to rejoining the EU.
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=61835
McKinsey are just corporate shills.
I can’t imagine McKinsey know anything about workers/employee rights, other than how to quietly remove them.
i urge you to go here,
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/suicide-faq
“Frequently Asked Questions About Suicide
FAQ about suicide – Cover
Suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States and a major public health concern. When a person dies by suicide, the effects are felt by family, friends, and communities. This brochure can help you, a friend, or a family member learn more about the warning signs of suicide, ways to help prevent suicide, and effective treatment options.”
I believe the “policy” is to encourage suicide. Certainly in Canada, where “assisted death” is a thing, https://assisted-dying.org/blog/2021/03/18/canada-expands-its-right-to-die-law/ and in various catacombs of venture capitalism there’s “support” for the right-to-die movement including buying into hospice big time and doing to dying people what PE always does: “Die Now.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8550821/
And the aggregate drivers of desperation and depression just keep showing the kind of growth that pleases growth-oriented vampire squids. Useless eaters, they hope, will become a dying breed.
Welcome George, and thanks for the interesting recap.
The German arms contracts scandal surely puts VDL’s current pro-war fanaticism in a certain light. I always wonder if it’s mostly carrot or stick with these corrupt politicians. I’m sure there’s promises of future jobs or book deals for herself or her associates. But there might also be some blackmail thrown in for additional motivation. E.g. VDL may have deleted her SMS or Whatsapp messages, but someone at those defence companies may have kept them just in case they need to refresh her memory of certain improper acts. A softer version of ‘plata o plomo’ I guess…
Welcome to George Georgiou.
Yes, this post is perfectly timed: I am reading in this morning’s Fatto Quotidiano that Ursula van der Leyen will be reappointed along with Kaja Kallas (super hawk lady of Estonia) in charge of foreign affairs (which for Kallas means bombing Russia), as well as likely reappointment of the nonentity Roberta Metsola. Plus an appointment of Antonio Costa, who, I believe, is the former Portuguese prime minister who accidentally resigned recently.
Of the four, only Costa is a serious politician. Believe it or not.
Ursula van der Leyen is the Hillary Clinton of Europe. (She also is a product of the complete degradation of feminism by adoption of neoliberalism, but I won’t comment further.) The Pfizer scandal is a perfect indication of who her power base is.
The negotiations were conducted using sms messages, which VDL later claimed to have deleted.
Is that you, Hillary?
According to Fatto Quotidiano, Giorgia Meloni and Elly Schlein face the dilemma of voting for la Ursula. Ahhh, that special place in hell for women who don’t support women, according to war criminal Madeleine Albright. So Meloni, who claims to be the fresh new face of conservatives, and Schlein, who claims to be the fresh new face of the Italian left, are just aspects of la Ursula.
And so it goes. The fact that all of these women support war is telling. The only skeptic about warmongering is likely to be Costa.
I’m sure that la Ursula has plenty of blue-and-yellow pantsuits to show off. Meanwhile, I also note that she isn’t sending her many kids into the meatgrinder that is the trench warfare in Ukraine that she so enjoys. Hmm.
Thank you and well said, DJG, especially for mentioning Kaja Kallas, who also wants to break up Russia into ethnic and regional states, and Meloni and Schlein having to chew wasps.
Fun facts:
VDL went to the same school as the Johnson tribe. Their fathers worked for the Commission.
VDL is an anglophile and proud of her English roots, hence a tendency to wear tweed. Her gentry ancestors hail from the south Midlands and made money in wool as did their neighbours, the Washington, Spencer (including its Spencer-Churchill branch) and Drayton (as in South Carolina’s Magnolia and eponymous English estates) families.
Thank you, Colonel. Looking at the Fall Semester prospectus at our local community college here in Chautauqua County, New York (the agricultural hinterlands, not The Big Apple,) I see that a new course has been added, a pre-requisite for acquiring the Associate’s Degree: Forelock Tugging 101. Covers the basics of self-abnegation, including but not limited to, foot shuffling, bowing while walking backwards, and proper use of honorific terminology when addressing one’s betters.
Resistance is futile, yeah?
Why there are still people thinking of “reforming” the EU is beyond me but for sure they are part of the problem not of the solution.
Yep, the Eurocrat bubble bets on confrontational EU (with regards to Russia) and bets on ineptitude by the part of VDL— Interruption of comment: Thank you Georgiou for this succinct and accurate review on VDL achievements.—
I would add to VDL sins the case when she tried to assume a role as EU Commission chief, High Representative of Foreign Affairs, and overall Supreme Representative of all things EU when she went to show unmerited institutional support for Israel. This was probably her most important political mistake. She went well beyond her supposed competencies. As a “public servant” she is a divisive person and if she gets the post again it will be a bad symptom of the state of play in the EU. Quite possibly the latest poisonous legacy of extreme centrists like Macron and others.
PM Kallas of Estonia was a logical pick, since she has no foreign policy or diplomatic experience at all, and she makes von der Lugen look like a centrist when it comes to Russia-bashing: recently she suggested in public that Russia would be better off if it were broken up into many small countries. The Baltification of EU foreign relations will surely send a jolt of new, fresh energy throughout Europe. On top of this, I suspect the deciding factor in her ascension to power was the fact that she showed herself to be involved in a big (for Estonia) scandal. Her businessman husband committed the heinous crime of continuing to secretly do business in Russia after the sanctions began, and in spite of having visited her husband’s firm at least twice and giving him a business loan of about $350,000, she bravely pointed out that she and her husband don’t discuss business and that she doesn’t know what he does at work. Moreover, she has rare talent as an actress, a skill which should help the EU communicate more efficiently with former Ukrainian president Zelensky. Kaja should fit in well with and invigorate her new work environment and form a dynamic duo with the refreshingly frank and truthful Ursula.
Thank you, DG.
You say: “The Baltification of EU foreign relations will surely send a jolt of new, fresh energy throughout Europe.” Does that include sex workers? Pricing for elite courtesans is rather high at the moment, so an influx of competition is most welcome.
But don’t forget Colonel, that users of elite courtesans put their liaisons on expenses. The price is therefore immaterial to them.
So Zelensky can play with her instead of the piano?
> that special place in hell for women who don’t support women, according to war criminal Madeleine Albright.
Did she support Sarah Palin? Or will she also be in that special place in hell?
Yep, Europe will be run on delusions and Baltic/Eastern European revanchism. Ain’t you glad you and I left Chicago for this?
OIFVet: Glad to see some new comments from you. You must have been busy with the ending of the academic year.
That rhetorical question is kind of a whippersnapper question: Yes, I am still content to have left. Let’s mosey over to the Biden mental-meltdown post, eh?
The amusing thing about Italy’s “rightward drift” is that the Fratelli d’Italia have to deal with the Italians, who are a polite but not docile bunch. From my peculiar region, the U S of A looks like a full-on madhouse. I don’t care if Chicagoans think that they make the best hotdogs in the world.
Here, one eats better, ne.
Awesome comments today from the commentariat. Let’s see if Ursula makes it through the European Parliament (which has its own problems, ahem).
Welcome George, what a great start!
Concise summary of her penchant for inside dealing, nepotism and generally corrupt behavior. This is simply her nature as a woman of “noble” background who assumes that she is born to power and answers ultimately to no one. It would be worth another post to set out the multiple times she has acted outside her mandate as Commission President to interfere in areas where she has absolutely no authority under EU law, especially in foreign policy. The Council has shown itself to be useless since her reign began.
And in Germany, at the ballot box, the only way to express one’s disagreement with this state of affairs in a way that registers with the Powers That Be, is to vote for the AfD.
Is it considered certain that VdL will receive 50% of the MEP votes? Given the closeness of the first vote to that threshold and the additional scandals since the first vote, perhaps there are grounds for doubt/hope.
Thank you and welcome George. It turns out I needed this as I had gleaned that Uvderl was dirty but I couldn’t say for what until I read your nicely concise article.
I would love to hear more about her family tree, I cam across this tidbit a while ago on TwitterX.
Rania Khalek
@RaniaKhalek
“Von der Leyen’s family tree traces a legacy of power and brutality, incorporating not only some of Germany’s most significant Nazis but also some of Britain’s largest slave traders and, through marriage, some of the United States’ largest slave owners.
Von der Leyen is descended directly from James Ladson, who owned more than 200 slaves when the Civil War broke out.
Thank you.
It needed Cromwell’s roundheads to oust her English (cavalier) ancestors from power in the civil war and encourage them to leave England. It was the same with the Washingtons, whose ancestral home still stands at Sulgrave Manor, not far from their Spencer and Drayton peers.
Welcome, George! Great summary of where the EU is and is going. If only one of them had the wit to stop and ask, “Where am I going and why am I in this handbasket?”
If you want to know where Ursula comes from and what might influence how she views the world you might want to read this:
https://mronline.org/2023/02/20/ukraine-hawk-who-heads-european-commission-has-a-nazi-pedigree-she-does-not-want-you-to-know-about/
Living in Lower Saxony I still have vivid memories of her father, also called ‘Graf Keks’ for his role as a manager of a leading cookie manufacturer. History sometimes rhymes in a funny way.
There is so much corruption in “arms deals” and “pharma delas” that is seems so clear and logical to remove the profit out of defense contracts.and government contracts with Big pharma….but how, wihout suddenly “disappearing”…such is the power these cretins have…and theyre all in on it. These fake “consultant” fees…and where is the media, where is the public outrage, can they all really be more interested in football? How could any EU pm vote for VDL? So now we know why the EU wants no peace with Russia, just too much money to be made, even at the cost of destroying the world…..
I’d say that those scandals aren’t seen as scandals…. She survived them by fighting and protecting herself which by extension means she fought and protected the organisation (the Commission).
By having her in charge then The Powers That Be know the have someone who will fight all charges, who will cover up all wrongdoing and that there will be no accountability or transparency. So what I and others might see as things in the past that should disqualify her for the job The Powers That Be see all those things as accomplishments and things that make her more qualified for the position. Her appointment is a clear message and it shows what our leaders truly believe in.
On a related note: The ‘impartial’ Swedish public broadcaster had a panel discussing her on TV a couple of weeks ago. The timeslot was primetime, in the name of public interest they had three people discussing her. Their conclusions were:
VdL was great at handling the Ukraine war. No specifics on what she did that was great.
VdL was great at handling COVID. No specifics on what she did that was great and no questions asked about the offical criticism of her purchase of vaccines.
I suppose that the findings might have been decided when it was decided who would take part of the discussion… One of the three was a representative of a fringe-party, it is very rare to come across any supporter of that fringe-party in Sweden and even in the PMC they are hard to find. But despite having almost no public support for their policies and politicians they somehow are regarded as mainstream and therefore their views has to be represented on primetime public TV.
Some organisations like public TV might claim to be unbiased and impartial but the individuals leading those organisations do not exist in a vaccuum and they will be as unbiased and impartial as the ones who appointed them tells them to be.
VDL is the perfect embodiment of Western values! I can’t think of anyone more qualified to be President of the EU Commission than her, except a Russophobic transgender.
I agree. Like it or not, she is the “leader” Europeans deserve. And she is – to the extent that her low intelligence (a trait she shares with Stoltenberg, by the way), her incompetence and her infamous corruption allow – taking Europe to hell, where it belongs.
I agree we do not have the leadership we deserve, but I disagree Europe deserves to be in hell. Our feckless elites maybe – just like in the US. There’s a difference.
Nothing rounds out a nice litany of the crimes of UvdL, like the inimitable Clare Daly’s ‘Frau Genocide’ speech attacking UvdL for overstepping her authority in pledging full support for Israeli genocide:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOfgVLqDIWg
It starts early everywhere at the local level with “our thing”. In my corrupt little state, made junior members of the duopoly elite start at a higher level like senator or congressman. It is impossible to remove these people since they control all of the levers of power, and since their families have stolen large sums of money in the past they merely have to look virtuous and their power enables them maintain and modestly supplement their family wealth.
Recently our virtuous and do-gooding local state senator crowed about how she carried a bill at the state level that will require the payment of the federal minimum wage to all domestic workers. Yes, that would be $7.25/hr. I saw a flyer yesterday advertising dish-washer positions at $18/hr…it’s all the PMC gabbing with one another.
I believe I’m in the same vicinity as you are, and my teenaged spawn is currently making around $25/hr washing dishes – place she works adds tips to their hourly wage.
That is more than the starting wage for many municipal employees, who our local PMC continue to jerk around and then wonder why turnover is so high.
The VDLs of the world aren’t overly bright, but they do love the aroma of their own flatulence.
I guess this is the comment not of the year but of our time. Thanks for that.
“EU citizens need to see that EU institutions are far more transparent, accountable and democratic.”
They need to experience it…over a long period of time.
Good luck, but don’t hold your breath.
I have long thought of her as ” Von Der Looneybin”, more than just a nasty piece of work.
I think of her as Useless fonda Lying.
Because of her own negligence, Ursula von der Leyen also has a personal vendetta against wild wolves. Here’s from a story in Politico.eu:
Here’s from The Guardian:
I for one am glad that Borrell will be gone. He was, on the one hand, hilariously (and inexplicably) self-destructive: The “garden and jungle” statement was so perfect, with so many layers (like him delivering it in Brussels of all places, including the phrase “we must cut down the jungle” – imagine the images of machetes that must have evoked in former Belgian colony Congo), that I could never have come with up anything better myself. I used to joke that he couldn’t plausibly be a Russian or Chinese agent, because they would presumably have wanted him to be a bit more sublte. However, his stances on the Zionist genocide in Palestine I think did go some way to moderate revulsion with the EU and Europe outside the West.
With Katja Kallas, things are going to be very different. In fact, Balts might be uniquely qualified to run (or at the very least give the final rhetorical touches to) so-called EU foreign policy. Besides Lithuania, I can’t think of any other country in recent years that made the normally infinitely patient China immediately rip up bilateral diplomatic and commercial relations.
On a related note, I have gotten the sense that the particular Baltic lack of self-awareness, extreme racial chauvinism and hatred of all non-whites (including, of course, Russian “Mongols”), pathetic weakness combined with grandiose aggressive visions (like “dividing up Russia”), moral preening combined with bloodthirstiness and glee at Russian deaths, the juxtaposition of “big countries invading small countries” and proudly sending troops to Afghanistan, Iraq and so on, seem to inspire a particularly strong disgust reaction in the Global South. This legendary Twitter exchange is a great example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBQ0WToKvQ4
If her re-appointment speeds up the demise of the EU, then I support it.
The EU has ‘lost its way’, and become a wholy undemocratic politicised bureacracy that is openly dictating to its members.
It is destroying Europe at an alarming rate.
The Von der Leyen crime dossier is actually much worse
Dossier initiated with Strasbourg Council of Europe anti-corruption body GRECO, on Von der Leyen’s bribery exchange scheme with Belgium which has criminal jurisdiction over EU Commission offices
https://dr-les-sachs.eu/belgian-corruption/greco-ad-hoc-belgium-corruption.pdf
Hungary, Slovakia and Italy are considering a joint move to ask the EU Parliament to NOT ratify Von der Leyen’s appointment, based on this dossier
The dossier charges that Von der Leyen assists major crimes and violations of EU law in Belgium – such as running a bribe extortion scheme over EU citizen health care rights – and Belgium blocks criminal investigation and prosecution of Von der Leyen, her covid vaccine crimes include abusing her office to seek to enrich her husband Heiko von der Leyen, a covid vaccine executive … the EPPO and OLAF apparently already bought off or intimidated
Brussels prosecutors are cited in court as being agents of Von der Leyen threatening to murder a Polish citizen who won a Belgian legal case against the Von der Leyen – Belgium bribe extortion complex, and who is now the chief witness to GRECO
Even worse is Von der Leyen charged with war crimes, helping kill tens of thousands of Ukrainians for war profiteering with her and Zelensky’s defence industry friends … Ukrainians are sent to die with almost no training and poor equipment just to keep the war going, Von der Leyen reported as totally callous about masses of Slavic men dying for nothing
https://twitter.com/TribunusBru