Remember how we used to be? We are not the same

As Charles Grant from the Centre for European Reform points out, von der Leyen faces far tougher, existential challenges than the French Socialist did. The current Commission president “has a much tougher set of problems to deal with,” he told Playbook. “Delors had to cope with Bosnia and the ERM [Exchange Rate Mechanism] crisis, while VDL has had to deal with even bigger headaches like COVID, Ukraine, illegal immigration and the rise of the far right/Orbán.