Opinion | The von delusion

By Tom Fowdy

Ursula von der Leyen (UVDL) is the President of the European Commission, and acts as the de-facto leader of the bloc overseeing its bureaucratic mechanisms. A career Eurocrat hailing from a family background of the same, she has made herself an increasingly prominent figure of late on the world stage, seeking to demonstrate so-called "European leadership" and "values" on a host of issues. Several years ago, I might have thought UVDL as a voice of reason, not least because she initially seemed pragmatic when it came to the bloc's relationship with China and helped negotiate the ill-fated bilateral investment treaty hence known as "CAI" despite American pressure against it.

But I should have known better. The war in Ukraine has unequivocally revealed her true colors as an overbearing Eurofanatasist of whom has since overwhelmingly embraced the United States, and I ought to have done my homework much sooner that is nothing remotely progressive or moderate concerning her landed family roots of which included the Slave owning Ladson family of South Carolina (a surname name she personally went by whilst studying in London). In every sense, she is the single most archetypal and stereotypical definition of what a "European" elite looks like. Yet ironically, that might be forgiven if she were not steering the ship of the continent towards disaster, and of course as far away from its own "strategic autonomy" as it can get.

UVDL, in a bid to drive and coordinate the direction of the EU bloc and lock the member states into commitment, often pro-actively engages in an "agenda-setting" mode of politics of which relies heavily on public announcements and pledges. Frequently, this has involved plucking out of thin air, spurious and outrageously large sums of money to be donated to given causes and goals, with the given expectation that it is the "member states" who will simply lump it up each time. In the past week, UVDL has done this twice on a ridiculous scale. First, announcing the European Union will pledge 200 billion Euros towards countering China's Belt and Road in conjunction with the United States. Then on Monday 4th July, declaring that the EU will pledge 500 billion Euros into rebuilding Ukraine after the war is over.

These astronomical financial commitments are not only contradictory of each other, but seem to gloss over the reality that the European Union is already deeply economically struggling owing to the impacts of the war. Inflation is surging, energy prices are skyrocketing, the Euro is losing value, Germany's trade surplus has completely vanished and there's already been talk of that in investing billions more to "diversify" energy sources in the fanciful bid to exert strategic independence from Russia. Then comes the question of are you going to invest in rebuilding Ukraine, or abstract alternative to the Belt and Road? Because it will be impossible to leverage the funding to do both at once little of it makes sense, yet the conflicting and scattered priorities are all over the place and seem to closely mirror that of the US, whose foreign policy of course is also increasingly irrational in its bid to force back unconditional hegemony on every single front.

Ironically so, it is on this note that UVDL may be a "Eurocrat" yet undoubtedly doesn't truly stand for European interests at all, precisely because her own sense of civilizational exceptionalism leads to a starry-eyed gaze of transatlanticism which has wholly embraced Washington's Anti-Russia, and then despite resistance ultimately bent the knee to the Anti-China agenda too, and is in turn aiding (although not the only figure or factor) the dragging of Europe into these full-scale geopolitical conflicts and then expecting taxpayers to cough up the bill. As it was with the European Financial Crisis of 2009, the ideologically uncompromising demand for "European Unity" sees these bureaucratic institutions constantly force member states to inflict acts of economic self-harm upon themselves. Whilst forced austerity was the legacy of that era, pushing EU states to cough up trillions for fanciful geopolitical consequences is this one.

Ultimately, the idea that Europe could provide a "3rd way" or a "moderate way" to Washington's agenda has been completely ridiculed as the US has wantonly used the conflict to re-exert dominance over the continent's affairs and expand its military presence. UVDL has not been a voice of reason in preventing this from happening, but a willing accomplice in the process. However, there is little realism and little feasibility behind any of this, other than the very clear outcome that Europe will be poorer, weaker and less globally relevant than ever before, never mind going off on far-flung ventures to the so-called "Indo-Pacific" to try and contain China.

The author is a well-seasoned writer and analyst with a large portfolio related to China topics, especially in the field of politics, international relations and more. He graduated with an Msc. in Chinese Studies from Oxford University in 2018.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.

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