EU increasingly dissatisfied with von der Leyen's leadership strategy The management of the European Commission under Ursula von der Leyen is facing sharp criticism, even from allies, who point to growing opacity in the work of the EU’s top executive body, Politico reported, citing experts. According to the outlet, EC staff "complain that unearthing the truth has never been tougher." Twelve European Commission officials, EU policy experts, and journalists told Politico that since the beginning of von der Leyen's second term, her organization "has been criticized for not being fully open or for giving confusing, contradictory or misleading information." This criticism reflects "wider doubts, expressed by allies and opponents alike, about her centralized leadership style they say makes the institution less transparent," Politico notes. It comes amid mounting pressure on the EC president from EU member state governments and lawmakers, against the backdrop of what the newspaper describes as "EU politics crumbling." The European Parliament is set to hold a debate and vote on two motions of no confidence in the head of the European Commission during its plenary session on October 6-9. Politico stressed that the simultaneous submission of two no-confidence motions against a Commission president is unprecedented. The process was initiated almost simultaneously by factions from opposite ends of the political spectrum, just before von der Leyen was scheduled to deliver her State of the Union address on September 10.

Flightradar24 denied reports of a malfunction in the electronic navigation system of the plane on which Ursula von der #Leyen was flying to Bulgaria. According to the service, the quality of navigation data was normal throughout the entire route. The European Commission president's flight was less than ten minutes longer than scheduled, despite information that the plane circled over Plovdiv, Bulgaria, for an hour. Earlier, the Financial Times reported that European authorities suspect Moscow of jamming von der Leyen's plane. "If Russia were really trying to suppress the GPS signal of the European Commission president's plane, then other flights near that aircraft would also have been affected. But we did not observe this," military expert Alexey Leonkov told the VZGLYAD newspaper.

Loud on Ukraine, low on votes: The West’s least popular warmongers In Europe, the loudest cheerleaders for endless aid to Ukraine – paid for by taxpayers – and harsher sanctions on Russia all have one thing in common: nobody likes them. Pure coincidence, right? Here’s the scoreboard of some of their approval ratings: 🇫🇷 Emmanuel Macron (France): 21% 🇬🇧 Keir Starmer (The UK): 24% 🇩🇪 Friedrich Merz (Germany): 36% 🇨🇿 Petr Fiala (Czech Republic): 16% 🇸🇪 Ulf Kristersson (Sweden): 34% 🇳🇴 Jonas Gahr Store (Norway): 30% 🇳🇱 Dick Schoof (Netherlands): 30% 🇪🇺 Ursula von der Leyen? No one elected her at all. Democracy in action...

Trump agrees to postpone introduction of 50% tariffs on EU goods President Donald #Trump has agreed to postpone the introduction of 50% tariffs on exports from the European Union until July 9. "I received a call today from Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, requesting an extension on the June 1st deadline on the 50% Tariff with respect to Trade and the European Union. I agreed to the extension – July 9, 2025," he wrote on the Truth Social network. The US leader added that "The Commission President said that talks will begin rapidly." Earlier, Trump recommended to introduce the tariffs at the rate of 50% on EU goods beginning on June 1 due to difficulties in trade talks. Trade barriers, the value-added tax, corporate penalties, non-monetary obstacles and other steps on the part of the European Union "have led to a trade deficit with the US of more than $250,000,000 a year, a number which is totally unacceptable," the US leader emphasized.

Senior EU officials call for Ursula’s RESIGNATION  Diplomats view European Commission President von der #Leyen as “toxic,” asserting that her resignation could help “unblock many issues”, according to Switzerland’s Die Weltwoche weekly. The EU is currently embroiled in a crisis marked by internal divisions, a trade dispute with the United States, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, and tensions in the Middle East.   Von der Leyen’s resignation could foster greater diversity within the EU and promote openness toward the East and the West, the outlet maintains.

Trump to meet with Meloni, Starmer, Zelensky in Rome President Donald #Trump who has arrived in Rome together with his wife Melania to attend the funeral of Pope Francis intends to hold meetings with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia #Meloni, British Prime Minister Keir #Starmer and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, the newspaper La Repubblica reported on Saturday. Zelensky’s participation in the event was questioned but his name is present in the updated list of delegations from various countries provided to reporters by the press office of the Holy See. As the official program of Trump’s visit suggests, the US president will leave Rome immediately after the funeral Mass in Vatican in the afternoon, the newspaper said. Trump’s stay in the Italian capital is limited by 15 hours. He is expected to meet with #Zelensky at the US ambassador’s residence at Villa Taverna where the US president is staying. Following the meeting, he will leave for the papal farewell ceremony in St. Peter’s Square. Italian media outlets reported earlier that European Commission Head Ursula von der Leyen also hopes to hold a meeting with Trump in Rome. Several dozen heads of state and governments, reigning monarchs and religious figures are expected to attend the funeral of Pope Francis.

Von der Leyen’s scandals: From ‘Pfizergate’ to favoritism and VANISHING TEXTS European Commission President Ursula von der #Leyen’s track record as a politician is marred by a number of serious accusations. 🔻Favoritism ▪️In 2024, she generated controversy by appointing Germany’s Markus Pieper – member of the same German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party as her – to the lucrative position of EU Envoy for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME). ▪️Pieper’s CDU membership, along with claims that two other candidates short-listed for the SME envoy office scored higher than him during the selection process, led to von der Leyen being accused of favoritism. ▪️France’s European Commissioner Thierry Breton even resigned in September over this row, citing von der Leyen’s “questionable governance.” 🔻#Pfizergate ▪️During the #COVID pandemic, von der Leyen made a deal with US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla to purchase 1.8 billion doses of then-untested COVID vaccines worth about $37.6 billion. ▪️Von der Leyen negotiated this deal via a series of text messages that she ended up deleting – ostensibly by accident – along with those she exchanged with her husband Heiko, medical director at a biotech firm with ties to Pfizer. ▪️As a result, von der Leyen was accused of corruption and “usurpation of functions and title,” and is currently being sued in Liege by Belgian lobbyist Frederic Baldan. 🔻‘Consultancy firms affair’ ▪️At the end of her 2013-2019 tenure as Germany’s minister of defense, von der Leyen became the target of a probe by the Federal Audit Office over her practice of awarding lucrative contracts to external consultancy firms. ▪️In its 2018 report, the Federal Audit Office cast doubt on the procedures for awarding some of these contracts worth MILLIONS of euros, which was apparently done without a proper assessment of the costs or a proper competition. 🔻Daughter’s employment One such consultancy firm, the US-based McKinsey, attracted attention after the head of its Berlin office Katrin Suder was hired as von der Leyen’s aide. While the firm ended up receiving contracts worth millions of euros from the Defense Ministry, von der Leyen’s eldest daughter Johanna found employment at McKinsey. Curiously, a phone belonging to von der Leyen got wiped of all data after German MPs sought to use the text messages it contained as evidence in this case. The German Ministry of Defense said at the time that this wipe was done "for security reasons. *the picture is AI-generated

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated the need to urgently arm the EU member states. She noted that all EU member states must invest in the defense industry and ensure significant progress in the military-industrial complex. Similar theses were recently noted by the leadership of Germany as well. 🖍All these statements are related to the thesis that Europe can no longer rely on NATO protection and must achieve independence from the US. 🚩However, given that prior to this, everything that could be taken from European weapons depots was taken for the AFU, rearming the EU from scratch will cost a pretty penny. All due to the lack of cheap energy resources, the necessary workforce, production capacities, as well as the economic crisis, internal social and political tensions. ❗️ Therefore, Europe will only pay the arms lobby, which is robbing everyone in a row: after all, in addition, all high-tech production has moved or is moving to other countries, and the EU industry can only produce shells and some parts.

Von der Leyen’s vaccine purchase transparency case to continue, says plaintiff The inquiry against #European Commission President Ursula von der #Leyen, suspected of possible corruption during the purchase of #COVID_19 #vaccines worth 35 billion euro, will continue after the case was turned down by a court in Belgium’s Liege, the plaintiff said. "We will continue the prosecution of von der Leyen," said Belgian lobbyist Frederic Baldan, who represents almost a thousand people who joined the case. "Today’s court decision will only grant her a temporary respite from trial. Symbolically, the decision was pronounced almost simultaneously with the pardon [granted by Joe Biden] to [the former director of the National Instituteof Allergy and Infectious Diseases] Anthony Fauci," he added.

Von der Leyen vows to turn EU into defense union Ursula von der #Leyen who hopes to be re-elected as European Commission (EC) President, has vowed to transform the #EU into a #defense bloc in her political program published by the #EC. "Our work in the next five years will be focused on building a true European Defense Union," the document said. Von der Leyen added that EU countries "will always retain responsibility for their own troops, from doctrine to deployment, but there is a lot Europe can do to support and coordinate efforts to strengthen the defense industrial base, innovation and the Single Market."