2 Feb, 2026 12:16THE EU IS A FREAKIN MESS
Von der Leyen’s rule ‘not good’ for EU – ex-commissioner
The bloc’s heavy-handed president hasno strategic vision and fails to stand up to the US, Nicolas Schmit has said
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen runs a system that silences those working under her, a former commissioner who served during her first term has claimed.
Nicolas Schmit, who represented Luxembourg as the commissioner for jobs and social rights from 2019 to 2024, has joined several former members of the European Commission to criticize von der Leyen’s leadership.
“I have the impression that commissioners are now largely silenced,” Schmit told Politico in an interview published Monday. “The system, how the College is organized – very centralized, call it presidential or whatever system – is not good for the College, it’s not good for the Commission, and it is not good for Europe in general.”
He said the EU under von der Leyen has failed to have “a real strategic debate on Europe in the world, which was already a different world from the one we knew before” and lacks a “real strategy” to navigate it.
Schmit also accused the EU leadership of being reluctant to confront US President Donald Trump, particularly after his administration sanctioned former Commissioner Thierry Breton for allegedly championing the censorship of US social media in Europe. He stressed that the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) was approved by the entire commission, not Breton alone.
After leaving the commission in 2024, Breton said someBrussels media have portrayed von der Leyen as “the Empress of Europe” due to her centralized power, noting that the bloc was not built for such a type of governance.
Schmit was the Party of European Socialists’ lead candidate in the 2024 EU election. Luxembourg declined to renominate him for commissioner, choosing Christophe Hansen from von der Leyen’s European People’s Party instead.
During her second term, von der Leyen defeated four attempts by smaller-party MEPs to oust her, accusing critics of being Russian agents. She is a vocal advocate for continued confrontation with Moscow.
https://www.rt.com/news/631863-commissioner-schmit-presidential-leyen/
26 Jan, 2026 11:21
EU’s Kallas privately complaining about ‘dictator’ von der Leyen – Politico
The bloc is riven with division among its leadership, the outlet has reported
European Union foreign policy chiefKaja Kallas is privately complaining about the authoritarian style of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Politico reported on Monday, citing sources.
Kallas views von der Leyen as “a dictator,” a senior diplomat told the outlet, adding that there is “little or nothing she can do about that.” Previous reportshave described a bitter rivalry between the two senior officials, with the commission president said to hold the upper hand. (BTW both of them are two stupidest people in leadership)
Politico named five people in Brussels who it claimed have the toughest jobs, including Kallas. Another is Paula Pinho, von der Leyen’s spokesperson, who the outlet reported isoften left uninformed by a boss who “works in a (metaphorical) bunker” with strict need-to-know protocols –making the current commission at times more secretive than the famously opaque Vatican.
Last week, von der Leyen survived a fourth no-confidence vote in the European Parliament from non-centrist lawmakers who accused her of lacking transparency and pursuing policies harmful to bloc members.Her conflict with Kallas reportedly stems from constant efforts to sideline the European External Action Service on key foreign policy matters.
Kallas, a former Estonian prime minister, has herself been criticized as unfit for her role, including by EU member Slovakia, partly due to her anti-Russian stance. Last September, she was ridiculed by Moscow and Beijing after appearing to treat it as a revelation that Russia and China take pride in defeating the Axis powers in World War II. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this weekend that neither Moscow nor Washington believes she can be productively negotiated with.
Politico also listed NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, described as a “Trump whisperer” for European NATO members, Hungarian EU envoy Balint Odor, who must soften Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s anti-Brussels rhetoric, and veteran Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic, dubbed “Mr. Fix It,” as those with supposedly the toughest jobs in Brussels.
https://www.rt.com/news/631518-kajas-leyen-dictator-bunker/