Does Ursula von der Leyen have the right skills for the EU Commission?

IT IS HARD to imagine a biography less suited to the mood of today’s Europe than that of Ursula von der Leyen, the German incoming president of the European Commission. Insurgent parties are sweeping the continent, cracks are forming between and within the EU’s member states and new threats are looming in the wider world. Mrs von der Leyen is the posh daughter of a Christian Democrat (CDU) minister-president of Lower Saxony. She rose through various government roles as an ally of Angela Merkel, glides multilingually through the world’s foreign-policy salons and can seem rather prim. Many consider her spell as German defence minister a debacle. Just what the old continent needs, one might groan: a slick, over-promoted scion of Europe’s unloved political establishment.

The manner of Mrs von der Leyen’s election supports that gloomy gloss. She was never a favourite to run the EU’s executive but rather a last-ditch candidate stumbled upon by sleep-deprived leaders at the conclusion of a three-day summit two weeks ago. In a speech before the European Parliament ahead of a binding approval vote on July 16th she issued a screed of mostly familiar albeit sensible policy proposals designed to secure a centrist majority, including faster progress towards carbon-emissions targets, enabling the EU to take some foreign-policy decisions without reaching unanimity, more capital-markets integration and a 50% female commission. She had hoped to win over socialists, liberals and greens as well as members of her own centre-right bloc—together the four hold 518 of the 751 seats in the parliament. But she failed to persuade parts of the centre-left and won her tiny nine-seat majority with the support of some opportunistic MEPs from populist groups.