Ursula von der Leyen

In her second term of office, the President not only dominates her Commission like hardly any of her predecessors. She is also a fixed point in the European and international power tectonics. Donald Trump has identified her as a central point of contact in the EU. Von der Leyen received a lot of criticism for the customs deal, even though she was acting on behalf of the EU heads of state and government. The CDU politician is also feeling the centrifugal forces of political polarization: the centrist parties in the European Parliament are increasingly unable to find a common denominator.