Chosen by the European Council, Ursula von der Leyen has two weeks to convince MEPs of her competence to lead the European Commission. The current German Defence Minister is leaving with a number of skills and some scandals in tow, including those that her own side has attached to her.
On the skills side, Mrs von der Leyen is first and foremost a determined European. The daughter of Ernst Albrecht, a baron of German local politics, but also a former European official, was born in Brussels in 1958 and began her education at the European School. Through the London School of Economics and the Medical School in Hanover, she combines scientific and economic qualifications. In addition to German, she is also English and French-speaking.
For Henrik Enderlein, director of the Delors Institute in Berlin, there is no doubt that she is "an impressive European and that she will impress many Europeans", he asserts on Twitter.
Firm, determined, sometimes brittle according to former employees, Ursula von der Leyen has already shown that she is capable of carrying out fund reforms. In particular, it was she who initiated the development of nurseries in the country and introduced paid parental leave (Elterngeld), including for fathers, when she was Minister for Family Affairs in the first Merkel government.
A mini sociological revolution in Germany, where nearly 23% of the beneficiaries of this parental leave are now men. An aristocrat, professor of medicine and mother of seven children, she is considered in a way to be "the" Minister for Women's Liberation in Germany.
But the Christian Democrat failed on a reform that was close to her heart when she was Minister of Labour: the introduction of quotas for women on corporate boards of directors, a proposal rejected by the conservative fringe of her own party, the CDU. She would not have the minimum wage she is favourable of successfully passed either. This reform will finally be validated by the third Merkel government, under pressure from the SPD.
Minister of Defence since December 2013, she also has a mixed record. On the one hand, she did not hesitate to step on the anthill by trying to reform the army's structures.
Assigned to a ministry considered as the "ejection seat of German politics", "she showed a certain courage to tackle the internal weaknesses of the army", says Sophia Besch, defence specialist at the Centre for European Reform, a liberal and Atlanticist think tank.
On the other hand, the star of the one who was long considered runner-up to Angela Merkel began to decline following a series of scandals affecting the army. Repeated breakdowns of German planes or tanks regularly ridicule the German army, while the Bundeswehr is increasingly present on the outside world, from Mali to Iraq.
The quality of her management is also questioned after revelations about the awarding of contracts worth several hundred million euros to overpaid consultants. Last December, the Bundestag set up a commission of inquiry into the matter.
Above all, the Minister will never have been able to be appreciated by a staff to whom she has not failed to criticise, particularly during the revelations about the army's complacency towards extreme right-wing officers.
For the time being, her main opponents are the German Social Democrats, who are head-on opposing her candidacy, to the point that the Chancellor had to abstain from voting in favour of her at the European Council because of a lack of support from the SPD members of her government (see EUROPE 12287/1).
Her candidacy "is not what we promised the voters", protested the SPD leader and former Minister of Justice of the same government, Katarina Barley. "Ursula von der Leyen is our weakest minister. This is apparently enough to become head of the Commission", said the former President of the European Parliament and unfortunate candidate for the Chancellery, Martin Schulz, ironically.
Beyond these successes and scandals, it is above all the political qualities of Ursula von der Leyen that are being questioned by political analysts in Berlin. Although very close to Angela Merkel, she repeatedly failed to convince members of her own party, the CDU, to defend her candidacy for the posts of Foreign Minister, President of the German Republic or leader of the party. It is this lack of ability to build alliances within one's own party that could be costly to the one that Germans often compare to Hillary Clinton. (Original version in French by Nathalie Steiwer)