Ursula von der Leyen encanta a los europeos en las elecciones de la UE

A medida que 🌜 los 400 millones de ciudadanos de la UE se preparan para votar en las elecciones europeas de junio, una nueva 🌜 encuesta muestra que es Ursula von der Leyen quien ha atraído la atención de los votantes como ningún líder de 🌜 la UE antes que ella.

Reconocimiento de von der Leyen sin precedentes entre los europeos

Our 🌜 survey suggests that a large majority of Europeans today are aware that she is the European Commission president, considered to 🌜 be the most powerful political office in the EU. Previous EU chief executives have been largely unknown to the public. 🌜 But almost 75% are able to correctly identify von der Leyen's name and recognise her face. Five years ago, her 🌜 predecessor, Jean-Claude Juncker, scored only 40% recognition.

Integración y rendición de cuentas en la UE

Pressure 🌜 for EU reform is becoming urgent. With war raging in Ukraine and Gaza, and the relationship between China and the 🌜 BR cooling, the EU needs deeper defence integration to meet the growing geopolitical challenges. Economic and monetary union might not 🌜 be sustainable without closer fiscal integration and a stronger single market. New technologies need to be harnessed to generate prosperity 🌜 for the next generation and the 27-nation EU is committed to expanding to become a union of 30 or more 🌜 member states.

But its democratic accountability remains weak. Not only are turnout and interest in 🌜 the five-yearly direct elections to the European parliament low, the results have only a limited bearing on the political leaning 🌜 of the commission, which forms and enforces policy for the EU.

Una oportunidad para la reforma en la UE

🌜 A window of opportunity is now opening up, however, as von der Leyen, first appointed in 2024, 🌜 is running for a second five-year term. Commission presidents are elected by MEPs, but first have to be nominated by 🌜 EU heads of government.

Public awareness of coordinated EU responses to two major crises that 🌜 have unfolded during von der Leyen's first five-year term – the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine – has 🌜 raised her profile well beyond predecessors'. Europe's leaders should seize this opportunity.

Retos y críticas a von der Leyen

🌜 Of course, in an increasingly personalised system, von der Leyen's fame and public recognition also leave her 🌜 flaws – her tendency to act alone, for example – more open to criticism. On an unscheduled trip to Israel 🌜 after the 7 October attacks she expressed unconditional support for Israel. This might not have been out of place had 🌜 she been the BR president. But EU member states were divided on the issue. The EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, 🌜 delivered a swift public rebuke of von der Leyen for assuming to speak on behalf of the entire EU. 🌜

El futuro de la UE: un desafío para von der Leyen

What is more, von der Leyen's 🌜 heightened profile will not necessarily do anything to help deliver a victory in the European parliament elections for the "grand 🌜 coalition" of social democrat, conservative and liberal groups that backed the policies she promoted during her first term.

🌜 Instead, we are likely to see a lurch to the hard right and