Scraping by with a 9-vote victory on Tuesday, Ursula von der Leyen won election as European Commission president. She now joins new European Council President Charles Michel as one of the European Union’s two top executives.
Sadly, both von der Leyen and Michel are perfect for their positions, because both are phenomenally weak on defense.
Weak defense sums up the European Union. EU member states continue to free-ride off U.S. taxpayers under the NATO alliance. But let’s consider the specific records of each executive.
Von der Leyen has served as Chancellor Angela Merkel’s defense minister since 2013. There, von der Leyen has presided over a terrible degradation and weakness in the face of a serious Russian threat. The results are clear. Today, beyond limited ground force deployments, Germany’s military is unable to deploy effective force in any meaningful manner. German warships are broken or kept out of action in a misguided desire to appease Russia. The German air force is creaking and its army lacks people and functioning tanks. The German special forces community is the military’s saving grace. Instead of demanding more investment from Merkel, von der Leyen has promised big and delivered little.
As Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel has developed a similarly lackluster defense record. Belgium continues to spend less than 1% of GDP on defense, far lower than the 2% baseline target for all NATO members. Even worse, the Belgian military dedicates less than 10% of its defense budget to equipment purchases. But even amid growing Russian threats, Michel apparently finds defense issues funny. During a NATO summit speech by President Trump, Michel smirked as Trump rightly demanded increased European defense spending.
These poor records make von der Leyen and Michel perfect for their new roles. They simply represent that which defines most of Europe on defense: unapologetic weakness that Europeans cannot afford without an American backstop.
