European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread - Page 1253

In brief: Leyen's entire career is defined by devout loyalty to Merkel. She would have been tossed to the bin in any other environment. I'll highlight a few things that come to mind:

Ministry of family affairs
Notoriously tried to implement internet filters to combat child porn. Would not steer away when challenged by ISPs, experts in tech and law, and the ministry of the interior. Outright lied on multiple occasions, contradicting law enforcement and other government officials in the matter. Much of her effort was driven by a radical Christian foundation tightly linked to her family.
Ultimately nothing came of it.

Ministry of labor
Honestly, I don't remember a thing she did in her four years in office. She did talk a lot about progressive issues, non of which were implemented under here leadership.

She played a key role in the messed up negotiations of the 2013 coalition. This might be interpretation by me in some part, but I see some responsibility for the delay in forming a government in her acting purely out of self-interest and acting in bad faith. There were leaks from the negotiations showing how she texted Merkel to get her to cancel agreements from a working group that Leyen co-responsible for. It's been a while so I don't remember the details, but broadly she undermined the negotiations using her influence with Merkel where-ever it would suit her.

Ministry of defence
First, she does have some accomplishments here. There has been decade long talk that the Bundeswehr needs to be a competitive employer with compulsory service all but abolished. She actually implemented improvements here, mostly targeted at making the jobs more family friendly (child care services, easier relocation, remote work, flexible work hours, better pension system). Some of that would benefit the civilian staff more than combat troops, but still these were considerable improvements for the soldiers.

On the other hand, she was involved in an endless chain of scandals and affairs in the Bundeswehr.
She showed zero leadership and resolve when Nazi sympathisers and terrorists were discover within the ranks. Evidence for Nazis in the BW ultimately came from the French services.
All branches of the Bundeswehr are in disrepair. Some blame for this is with her predecessors who cut down the BW drastically. Still, she has been on the post longer than her two predecessors combined, and things did not get better. Half the Luftwaffe is not combat ready, I believe all of the navy's helicopters are grounded, similar with the army's fighting vehicles.
The A400 transport plane, the Eurofighter, and the Boxer fighting vehicle were all catastrophes with exploding costs and lacking readiness.
Out of all these problems she choose to butt heads with Heckler & Koch over supposedly malfunctioning G36 rifles. And earned a humiliating defeat in court as the rifles were meeting specification exactly.
Looking forward, the purchasing policy is .. questionable. I suppose this is nothing surprising in militaries around the world but still.
The Gorch Fock, a ceremonial sailing ship has been in maintenance which so far racked up over 100 mio in expenses.
Right now there is investigation in hundreds of millions being over-payed for consultancy services to McKinsey - the company her children happen to work at, including investigation on contracts and other paperwork around the consultancy being destroyed.


Really, for any of the above, another minister would have had to resign. But, as one of Merkels closest allies, she was always protected from serious fallout.

She was however considered past her prime days politically, so this move to the European commission was for sure a surprise domestically too.