The EU’s commission chief is increasingly seen as too powerful
On the 13th floor of the Berlaymont building in Brussels, Ursula von der Leyen has built a presidential operation that exerts control over every aspect of what goes on inside the European Commission.Her tight-knit group of advisers has a grip on the day-to-day operations of the European Union’s executive arm as von der Leyen sidelines almost all but her inner circle and micromanages the mammoth organization. A big problem, according to people with direct knowledge of her working style, is that this is spreading her office thin and means less focus on her core economic responsibilities. As a result, her broader campaign to revive the EU project is faltering.Over seven years in charge of the commission, the 67-year-old has helped steer the EU through the Covid pandemic, wars in Ukraine and across the Middle East, and the return of Donald Trump and his trade tariffs to the White House.
