Evaluating the von der Leyen Presidency – A Commission in the midst of poly-crises

Abstract

The Roundtable will bring together scholars of the European Commission, EU gender research, and leadership studies to discuss the performance of the von der Leyen Commission and the role of the Commission Presidency. Ursula von der Leyen is the first female president of the European Commission. Her term in office 2019–2024 is coming to an end. From the start, her incumbency has been marked by unprecedented challenges and compounding crises, from her nomination and election in the European Parliament in 2019. Amidst these extraordinary circumstances, von der Leyen has steered forward an exceptionally ambitious political agenda, pushing European integration into new territory—from procuring anti-COVID-19 vaccines to building a green and digital economy to expanding the EU’s geostrategic security and defence capabilities—despite the Commission’s limited tools in health and social policies or foreign and security policy and deeply divided member states in these matters. Simultaneously, von der Leyen has demanded a new vision of "A Union of Equality." Presiding over the first gender-equal College of Commissioners, von der Leyen has embarked on fostering gender+ equality, diversity and inclusion in the European Commission and EU policy-making with unprecedented force, rendering her and her Commission a "critical actor" in this field. Despite having raised high scholarly expectations, research on (1) the EU Commission’s responses to the diversity of crises, (2) von der Leyen’s ascendance to and exercise of leadership in the European Commission and Union more broadly, and (3) scholarship on gender-inclusive substantive representation and EU policy-making during von der Leyen’s term has either remained separate, scarce or preliminary. The four Roundtable discussants will discuss – political and academic – achievements and shortcomings of the von der Leyen Commission.

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