European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is under fire as anger grows over the European Union’s botched vaccine procurement program.
Member states tasked the EU with procuring vaccines on their behalf — a choice that, they have now learned, was a rather significant mistake. Other countries, such as the United States, Britain, and Israel, ordered more vaccine doses and did so months earlier. The result is that they have been far more successful in vaccinating their populations than the EU. It is an absurd situation: On vaccine procurement, von der Leyen did not want to spend big sums on vaccines. And this is despite the EU’s $910 billion spending to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus crisis.
But this bungling is by no means von der Leyen’s first high-profile failure. As Germany’s defense minister from 2013 to 2019, von der Leyen left chaos in her wake. At one point, just 39 of Germany’s 128 Eurofighters were operational. And of 72 heavy transport helicopters, a mere 16 were ready for action. Delivering the Bundeswehr’s annual report in 2018, Hans-Peter Bartels, the parliamentary commissioner for the armed forces, said, “There is large-scale mismanagement in all areas.” According to the report, less than half of the army’s major weapons and equipment systems were ready for deployment, and there was a widespread shortage of spare parts. That’s not all: Von der Leyen was also heavily criticized for her approach to tendering for lucrative contracts while she was in charge of the defense ministry.
This is not to say that von der Leyen was completely disinterested in defense issues. At least when it came to liberal-minded populism, von der Leyen was always happy to provide. Rather than focus on getting tanks ready to fight, von der Leyen prioritized “diversity management” and “intercultural competence and multilingualism.” She also organized special workshops such as “dealing with sexual identity and sexual orientation in the Bundeswehr.” As a result of years of chronic underfunding, the Bundeswehr was already in a bad state when von der Leyen took office. But far from delivering improvements, the situation actually deteriorated in every year of her leadership. In Germany, people say that von der Leyen’s appointment as the head of the European Commission saved her reputation.
But it’s no surprise that we’re seeing what we’re now seeing from von der Leyen in Brussels. Leading the EU’s coronavirus vaccine efforts, she has picked up where she left off in Germany. Consider, for example, that the first thing she thought of to combat the crisis was to produce a video that showed people how to wash their hands properly while humming the EU anthem! Let’s hope von der Leyen never becomes the United Nations’ secretary-general!
Rainer Zitelmann is the author of Dare to Be Different and Grow Rich.
