Coordinating elected national leaders is hard work, and that is how the original European Economic Community earned the laurel it deserved. Giving orders to member states by holding huge appropriation power yet without the need to face voters is a lot easier, and that is how people like Ursula von der Leyen destroy the EU. Of course, the decay of the EU started before her term.
As the EU expands it becomes ever more difficult for member nations to discipline it. Most likely it will be reformed or eliminated only by external or objective factors. Pressure from the US might be the most benign of these. Less benign possibilities are defeat in war, economic collapse, or something akin to civil war.
Pretty much totally agree with your piece, Ian, and many of the subsequent comments.
I was a fervent 'remoaner', almost fundamentalist in my belief that it was correct. Now I'm pretty much a sort of Scroedinger's Remoaner, in that I think both brexiting and remoaning are both simultaneously the wrong option to take. Where's Blair's 'third way' when you need it?
The thing to do was perhaps stay in but champion reform from within, but I suspect Nigel Farage would be quick to explain why that had no hope of succeeding. I wouldn't have listened to him then. Now, I'd at least hear him out. Hopefully what 'Ukraine' has taught me is to try to listen to alternative points of view more than I would have done at the time of Brexit. But then, how do you, if the government orchestrates the marginalising of alternative views?
The European Commission is the cancer of the European Union. It will kill its host. Surgery is needed to get rid of it. I would have said reform it but have we reached the point it has to go?
I don't know.
I still think the Commission itself is not an inherent problem. Rather it is the commissioners.
There are at least a couple of matters for which an effective commission could be invaluable. One is coordination of economic strategy to combat Trump's tariffs (let's see how they do). Another is to push the development of European social media (and wider IT) provision such that we are not at the mercy of deleterious US regimes, although given we've been subjected to an overwhelming campaign of disinformation concerning Ukraine, Europe is just as guilty.
On balance, even though there is a role there for them if they were honest and competent and sane, rather than their opposites, I feel the Commission has to be chucked in the bin.
As for Kallas, why does she even exist? I mean her role (but). What are the foreign ministers of European countries there for if not to act as representative of their countries in foreign affairs? But then if you look at the website of the European External Action Service, which she heads, you see all the appalling shite, NGO shite, the brainwashing, the delivering (self-proclaimed) 'inspiring' speeches to the youth of Albania (today's victims of Eurobullshitting). The regime change shite. The almost psychotic focus on the countries encircling Russia from the south. Basically it's the European arm of the psychotic US deep state, our USAID, and whoever else.
I tend to agree that the current architecture has a limited timespan, when even I am thinking of voting for an exit candidate in the next European elections. The question is whether the whole European Union goes down with the Commission, or the latter cancer can be cut out.
I agree completely Ian, I was fiercely against Brexit, and remain convinced Britain would be far better off financially in the EU, but, like you I am aghast at the expansionist agenda of Brussels. In particular, it is beyond ridiculous to promote figures like Kallas to such high-profile roles. Kallas is from Estonia, a country whose population is smaller than that of Manchester, and yet she is out there basically calling for war with Russia, it's an absolute joke. You simply cannot have unelected Commissioners out there making these statements, it is absolutely undemocratic.
Remember Roger Scruton's vision of Europe in the Paris Statement - made a lot of sense then. He would not have believed how bad things could get in a few short years. Yes, covid and Ukraine were accelerators. I think your timeframe of 2040 may be optimistic! My sense is that there could be major shifts by 2030 as the globalists continue to overplay their hand.
So true. All those in "the Eastern block" who could not wait to get to EU, are starting to have a deja vu with censorship crackdown, regulation on top of regulations and complete lack of concern for human rights. With many high positions occupied by Germans, EU position reflects the insanity of German state on issue of Gaza.
Von der Leyen’s tenure as Germany’s Defense Minister was plagued by systemic dysfunction. A 2018 parliamentary audit revealed that only 29% of the military’s equipment was fully operational, with shortages forcing troops to use wooden rifle replicas during training. The Bundeswehr’s former Inspector General, Volker Wieker, publicly criticized her procurement strategy as “uncoordinated and fiscally irresponsible,” citing a €25 billion budget hemorrhage from delayed or canceled contracts. Her resignation in 2019 followed a cronyism scandal involving irregular consultant payments to external firms.
2. COVID-19 Vaccine Controversy
As European Commission President, von der Leyen personally negotiated the EU’s €20 billion Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine deal via undisclosed text messages with CEO Albert Bourla—a breach of EU transparency protocols. The New York Times (April 2021) confirmed the Commission’s refusal to disclose message contents, prompting an ongoing Ombudsman investigation. While no direct evidence of corruption exists, the secrecy fueled accusations of preferential treatment. Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton later admitted the contract’s “excessively rigid” terms left the EU with surplus doses, wasting €4 billion in taxpayer funds.
3. Russia Sanctions: Economic Blowback
The EU’s sixth sanctions package (2022), banning 90% of Russian oil imports, triggered energy inflation peaking at 41% year-on-year in Germany. Industrial giants like BASF and ArcelorMittal downsized operations, citing untenable energy costs. A 2023 Bruegel Institute study estimated the sanctions cost the EU economy €550 billion in lost GDP growth, disproportionately affecting low-income households, whose energy spending surged to 17% of income (vs. 6% pre-crisis). Despite this, von der Leyen advocated for further sanctions, including a proposed €5 billion asset seizure from Russia’s Central Bank—a move the European Central Bank warned could destabilize the euro.
4. Geopolitical Alignment and Questionable Appointments
Critics argue von der Leyen’s policies increasingly mirror U.S. strategic interests. For example, her unilateral push to fast-track Ukraine’s EU membership talks bypassed standard accession protocols, alarming France and the Netherlands. Her appointment of Kaja Kallas as EU Foreign Policy Chief—a vocal proponent of escalating military aid to Ukraine and confiscating Russian assets—has drawn backlash from leaders like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, who accused her of “pursuing a personal vendetta, not European unity.” Kallas’s own reputation remains divisive; her government’s 2023 cybersecurity law, criticized for mass surveillance, prompted resignations within Estonia’s coalition.
5. The €800 Billion Rearmament Plan
Von der Leyen’s proposed European Defence Industrial Strategy (EDIS) allocates €800 billion for arms production by 2035. While framed as a response to Russian aggression, the plan’s lack of oversight mechanisms echoes past procurement scandals. A 2024 European Court of Auditors report flagged “persistent weaknesses” in EU defense spending, noting that 40% of 2022’s €12 billion European Defence Fund remains unaccounted for due to lax reporting rules. Suspicions of corporate favoritism persist: Rheinmetall, a German arms manufacturer, saw shares rise 210% after EDIS’s announcement.
Conclusion: Accountability vs. Centralization
Von der Leyen’s career underscores a recurring tension between centralized decision-making and democratic accountability. From wooden rifles to vaccine opacity and sanctions blowback, her legacy hinges on whether the EU’s crises are attributed to external shocks or self-inflicted institutional overreach. As EDIS advances, the Commission’s refusal to implement robust anti-corruption safeguards—despite Parliament’s demands—suggests a troubling pattern: prioritizing urgency over integrity, with citizens bearing the cost.
Great piece. As a caravan traveller, I love the open borders where I could if I so chose, drive from Spain to Finland. I've just spent a week in the Italian Dolomites 3 hours from my adopted German home, and loved the cuisine differences.
But now we have this horrible senseless war, and this inexplicable hatred of Russia. Where did it go so wrong?
Yes, and be replaced by something better. There is certainly a need for peaceful and democratic pan-European co-operation, but not the Neo-liberal 'uber-alles' version that we currently have.
Whatever happened to “subsidiarity”? When I was younger, that used to be the watchword of the EU. Indeed, “four freedoms plus subsidiarity” would seem to be the proper governing principle.
I remember voting to stay in Europe all those moons ago. I had deep misgivings but I felt, on balance, that Europe might one day aspire to something noble and grand. Roll on a few years and here we are. All as Ian lays out.
We can but hope that it will all fall apart. That we will return one day to our mutual squabbling and behave as yore: nations divided by the common language of human pettiness and greed.
Personally, Ian, I think this all goes back to your previous article about their values and ours. I was gulled into voting for Europe on this ‘values’ argument - the only thing is, I didn’t realise then that their values aren’t ours, they just stole and used the language of equality and justice and community. I didn’t realise then that when they talked about democracy they were really talking about their version and not ours. That’s the real crime: to dress up a great idea in the borrowed robes of morality and common justice and then sell it back to the people as a mutual hope. To twist beautiful truths and make them ugly and low. They did this. Now many people are either dead to political life and culture or in love with simple arguments spun by the nationalist right.
The Euro elite created this. And, more shamefully, they will always be too shameless to ever feel the shame of it.
The turkeys will not vote for Christmas
🤣
Which is why they are busy denying “the turkeys” an opportunity to vote, eh?
Coordinating elected national leaders is hard work, and that is how the original European Economic Community earned the laurel it deserved. Giving orders to member states by holding huge appropriation power yet without the need to face voters is a lot easier, and that is how people like Ursula von der Leyen destroy the EU. Of course, the decay of the EU started before her term.
Her ascension, and worse her reappointment, is itself evidence of the decay.
As the EU expands it becomes ever more difficult for member nations to discipline it. Most likely it will be reformed or eliminated only by external or objective factors. Pressure from the US might be the most benign of these. Less benign possibilities are defeat in war, economic collapse, or something akin to civil war.
I fear you may be right
Pretty much totally agree with your piece, Ian, and many of the subsequent comments.
I was a fervent 'remoaner', almost fundamentalist in my belief that it was correct. Now I'm pretty much a sort of Scroedinger's Remoaner, in that I think both brexiting and remoaning are both simultaneously the wrong option to take. Where's Blair's 'third way' when you need it?
The thing to do was perhaps stay in but champion reform from within, but I suspect Nigel Farage would be quick to explain why that had no hope of succeeding. I wouldn't have listened to him then. Now, I'd at least hear him out. Hopefully what 'Ukraine' has taught me is to try to listen to alternative points of view more than I would have done at the time of Brexit. But then, how do you, if the government orchestrates the marginalising of alternative views?
The European Commission is the cancer of the European Union. It will kill its host. Surgery is needed to get rid of it. I would have said reform it but have we reached the point it has to go?
I don't know.
I still think the Commission itself is not an inherent problem. Rather it is the commissioners.
There are at least a couple of matters for which an effective commission could be invaluable. One is coordination of economic strategy to combat Trump's tariffs (let's see how they do). Another is to push the development of European social media (and wider IT) provision such that we are not at the mercy of deleterious US regimes, although given we've been subjected to an overwhelming campaign of disinformation concerning Ukraine, Europe is just as guilty.
On balance, even though there is a role there for them if they were honest and competent and sane, rather than their opposites, I feel the Commission has to be chucked in the bin.
As for Kallas, why does she even exist? I mean her role (but). What are the foreign ministers of European countries there for if not to act as representative of their countries in foreign affairs? But then if you look at the website of the European External Action Service, which she heads, you see all the appalling shite, NGO shite, the brainwashing, the delivering (self-proclaimed) 'inspiring' speeches to the youth of Albania (today's victims of Eurobullshitting). The regime change shite. The almost psychotic focus on the countries encircling Russia from the south. Basically it's the European arm of the psychotic US deep state, our USAID, and whoever else.
I tend to agree that the current architecture has a limited timespan, when even I am thinking of voting for an exit candidate in the next European elections. The question is whether the whole European Union goes down with the Commission, or the latter cancer can be cut out.
I agree completely Ian, I was fiercely against Brexit, and remain convinced Britain would be far better off financially in the EU, but, like you I am aghast at the expansionist agenda of Brussels. In particular, it is beyond ridiculous to promote figures like Kallas to such high-profile roles. Kallas is from Estonia, a country whose population is smaller than that of Manchester, and yet she is out there basically calling for war with Russia, it's an absolute joke. You simply cannot have unelected Commissioners out there making these statements, it is absolutely undemocratic.
Remember Roger Scruton's vision of Europe in the Paris Statement - made a lot of sense then. He would not have believed how bad things could get in a few short years. Yes, covid and Ukraine were accelerators. I think your timeframe of 2040 may be optimistic! My sense is that there could be major shifts by 2030 as the globalists continue to overplay their hand.
Let's run a book on the date!
The thing about self destructive behavior is that the practitioner thereof, in this case the EU, WILL either reform or it WILL die.
Given what you know about the kind of entitled credentialed retards who infest such structures, which would you bet on?
I’m betting they will not reform. I don’t even think they CAN.
That's my fear/assumption too.
Yep. Living in Europe, as I do, is like the ancient Chinese curse;
“May you live in interesting times.”
So true. All those in "the Eastern block" who could not wait to get to EU, are starting to have a deja vu with censorship crackdown, regulation on top of regulations and complete lack of concern for human rights. With many high positions occupied by Germans, EU position reflects the insanity of German state on issue of Gaza.
Ursula von der Leyen’s Leadership Under Fire: Policy Failures, Systemic Risks and her Responsibility on Destroying the European Union:
1. Germany Defense Ministry Mismanagement [2013-2019]
Von der Leyen’s tenure as Germany’s Defense Minister was plagued by systemic dysfunction. A 2018 parliamentary audit revealed that only 29% of the military’s equipment was fully operational, with shortages forcing troops to use wooden rifle replicas during training. The Bundeswehr’s former Inspector General, Volker Wieker, publicly criticized her procurement strategy as “uncoordinated and fiscally irresponsible,” citing a €25 billion budget hemorrhage from delayed or canceled contracts. Her resignation in 2019 followed a cronyism scandal involving irregular consultant payments to external firms.
2. COVID-19 Vaccine Controversy
As European Commission President, von der Leyen personally negotiated the EU’s €20 billion Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine deal via undisclosed text messages with CEO Albert Bourla—a breach of EU transparency protocols. The New York Times (April 2021) confirmed the Commission’s refusal to disclose message contents, prompting an ongoing Ombudsman investigation. While no direct evidence of corruption exists, the secrecy fueled accusations of preferential treatment. Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton later admitted the contract’s “excessively rigid” terms left the EU with surplus doses, wasting €4 billion in taxpayer funds.
3. Russia Sanctions: Economic Blowback
The EU’s sixth sanctions package (2022), banning 90% of Russian oil imports, triggered energy inflation peaking at 41% year-on-year in Germany. Industrial giants like BASF and ArcelorMittal downsized operations, citing untenable energy costs. A 2023 Bruegel Institute study estimated the sanctions cost the EU economy €550 billion in lost GDP growth, disproportionately affecting low-income households, whose energy spending surged to 17% of income (vs. 6% pre-crisis). Despite this, von der Leyen advocated for further sanctions, including a proposed €5 billion asset seizure from Russia’s Central Bank—a move the European Central Bank warned could destabilize the euro.
4. Geopolitical Alignment and Questionable Appointments
Critics argue von der Leyen’s policies increasingly mirror U.S. strategic interests. For example, her unilateral push to fast-track Ukraine’s EU membership talks bypassed standard accession protocols, alarming France and the Netherlands. Her appointment of Kaja Kallas as EU Foreign Policy Chief—a vocal proponent of escalating military aid to Ukraine and confiscating Russian assets—has drawn backlash from leaders like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, who accused her of “pursuing a personal vendetta, not European unity.” Kallas’s own reputation remains divisive; her government’s 2023 cybersecurity law, criticized for mass surveillance, prompted resignations within Estonia’s coalition.
5. The €800 Billion Rearmament Plan
Von der Leyen’s proposed European Defence Industrial Strategy (EDIS) allocates €800 billion for arms production by 2035. While framed as a response to Russian aggression, the plan’s lack of oversight mechanisms echoes past procurement scandals. A 2024 European Court of Auditors report flagged “persistent weaknesses” in EU defense spending, noting that 40% of 2022’s €12 billion European Defence Fund remains unaccounted for due to lax reporting rules. Suspicions of corporate favoritism persist: Rheinmetall, a German arms manufacturer, saw shares rise 210% after EDIS’s announcement.
Conclusion: Accountability vs. Centralization
Von der Leyen’s career underscores a recurring tension between centralized decision-making and democratic accountability. From wooden rifles to vaccine opacity and sanctions blowback, her legacy hinges on whether the EU’s crises are attributed to external shocks or self-inflicted institutional overreach. As EDIS advances, the Commission’s refusal to implement robust anti-corruption safeguards—despite Parliament’s demands—suggests a troubling pattern: prioritizing urgency over integrity, with citizens bearing the cost.
Great piece. As a caravan traveller, I love the open borders where I could if I so chose, drive from Spain to Finland. I've just spent a week in the Italian Dolomites 3 hours from my adopted German home, and loved the cuisine differences.
But now we have this horrible senseless war, and this inexplicable hatred of Russia. Where did it go so wrong?
Preferably die.
Yes, and be replaced by something better. There is certainly a need for peaceful and democratic pan-European co-operation, but not the Neo-liberal 'uber-alles' version that we currently have.
I agree.
Thanks. I should have added 'including Russia' - but I'm not sure that most Russians are interested any more, and who could blame them?
PS Read your book, very interesting, thanks. I get the impression that , freed from official constraints, your views have become more 'realistic'.
Whatever happened to “subsidiarity”? When I was younger, that used to be the watchword of the EU. Indeed, “four freedoms plus subsidiarity” would seem to be the proper governing principle.
I remember voting to stay in Europe all those moons ago. I had deep misgivings but I felt, on balance, that Europe might one day aspire to something noble and grand. Roll on a few years and here we are. All as Ian lays out.
We can but hope that it will all fall apart. That we will return one day to our mutual squabbling and behave as yore: nations divided by the common language of human pettiness and greed.
Between petty squabbling and subjugation by Eurocrats, I choose the former, Kieran.
Personally, Ian, I think this all goes back to your previous article about their values and ours. I was gulled into voting for Europe on this ‘values’ argument - the only thing is, I didn’t realise then that their values aren’t ours, they just stole and used the language of equality and justice and community. I didn’t realise then that when they talked about democracy they were really talking about their version and not ours. That’s the real crime: to dress up a great idea in the borrowed robes of morality and common justice and then sell it back to the people as a mutual hope. To twist beautiful truths and make them ugly and low. They did this. Now many people are either dead to political life and culture or in love with simple arguments spun by the nationalist right.
The Euro elite created this. And, more shamefully, they will always be too shameless to ever feel the shame of it.
So do I, Ian. Which is sad really. Europe really could have been something marvellous, couldn’t it? The idea of it.
The EU began as 6 nations with a common market for steel and coal, transmogrifying into the WEF's alpha test for global fascism.
EU dysphoria is destroying it's necessary organs in an attempt to make itself more powerful.
I am certain Macron will manage to fail up and replace UVdL as the next visionary.
Good luck