EU Top Jobs Go to People Who Didn’t Campaign

Landing a top leadership portfolio in the European Union this year was expected to be highly political. Not only were the national preferences of France and Germany in play, power blocs in the European Parliament also had their preferred candidates. Yet the political compromises involved in naming new leaders were so complex, the prevailing candidates turned out to be people who didn’t even campaign. German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen, who is to be president of the European Commission, and Christine Lagarde, the former French finance minister who will lead the European Central Bank, came completely out of the blue.

On the other hand, those who did campaign — including Manfred Weber of the center-right European People’s Party bloc and Frans Timmermans of the Socialist bloc — and those like Michel Barnier, the EU Brexit negotiator, who made themselves available as alternatives, failed to make the cut at all. Wrangling between the warring factions led by Angela Merkel of Germany and Emmanuel Macron of France pushed ideas and policy proposals out of the process, and member state priorities to the forefront.