IS THERE HOPE FOR THE EU? Ursula, a Viorica with a longer European exposure

By taking on the role of coordinator of the European anti-Covid vaccination program, the European Commision, as well as the main centers of power have sought to show everybody what unity and effectiveness in the fight for the common good mean.

And show it they did, and then some, under the wise leadership of Ursula von der Leyen. Especially recommended for "her voice and talent," von der Leyen, a doctor in medicine, was a jack-of-all-trades minister in all of the governments led by Angela Merkel. Her longest term, between 2013 and 2019, was at the head of the Ministry of Defense, after mandates at the head of the Ministry of Family and then of Labor.

Naysayers say she was "forced upon" the European Commission, despite opposition from the ruling Social Democrat coalition partners, precisely to stop the complete destruction of the army.

"Ms. Ursula von der Leyen's main qualification for the post of President of the European Commission was the expectation that she would do what Merkel and Macron would tell her. After her performance over the last few weeks, the leaders may have perhaps been wise to have sought other qualities", Daniel Stelter, one of Germany's most influential economists, wrote on his Twitter account.

His voice carries a lot of weight in the business sector of the Eurozone's largest economy, and Stelter analyzed the serious implications of the EC's attempts to ban vaccine exports in an article in Manager Magazin (manager-magazin.de).

Stelter's statement has profound meanings for us and the Romanian state authorities: Ursula von der Leyen is just a Viorica Dăncilă, with a wider European exposure and completely overwhelmed by the position she holds. Also, the statement of the German expert represents a warning regarding the complete perversion of the criteria used for appointing European politicians or including them on the list of parties' candidates in important European countries.

The European Commission's decision to restrict vaccine exports, in serious violation of the provisions of the Brexit agreement and without informing a directly involved Member State, Ireland, was also categorized as reckless in an analysis by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). It states that "the regulations set a dangerous precedent for trade restrictions on vaccines and undermine the EU's credibility as a supporter of free trade".

"The EU and the federal German government have failed at every step in ensuring the vaccine supply", writes Daniel Stelter, and "Brussels' threats (author's note: against AstraZeneca) represent the decline of the EU on the global scene".

Harsh, obscene words, but reported with great satisfaction by a segment of the British press from the German tabloids, were thrown around in a recent meeting of the German government, in which Deputy-Chancellor Olaf Scholz bluntly attacked Ursula von der Leyen for the disaster generated by the vaccination strategy. Articles in the German press mention nothing about official demands for the resignation of the President of the European Commission.

Paraphrasing the teaser the movie "Alien", The Economist writes that "in the EU no one can hear you scream". In an article about he avoidance of taking responsibility for this vaccination fiasco, the British publication writes that "there are limited ways to express dissatisfaction with EU management", and therefore "complaints about the vaccination program have been ignored".

"Instead of presenting excuses to the voters, the EU mentions that things could have been much worse", The Economist further points out.

Yes, that was the attitude of the President of the European Commission, who then tried to publicly blame a Vice-President of the Commission. What does this dirty attempt at passing the blame say about the character of "Mrs." Ursula von der Leyen?

And what is the "lady" in question still doing at the helm of the European Commission? Is she still there because she was appointed following the "negotiations" by Angela Merkel, at the cost of introducing new tensions among European officials and the delay of the formation of the new European government?

On the other hand, since when does an organization that its leaders see as "the first non-imperial empire in history" need to apologize?

"The Commission has tried to take advantage of the pandemic to increase its powers, but it has disastrously failed that operation", Ambrose Evans-Pritchard wrote in The Telegraph. He further asks, rhetorically, most likely, what that means for the confidence in the efficient management of the Turnaround Fund of 750 billion Euros.

Indeed, how can the European Commission, and not just in its current form under the leadership of Mrs von der Leyen, hope that it can begin and perpetuate a broad process of structural reforms?

Because if you do not want to allow the markets to work and you want to implement centralized structural reforms, from the top down, then you must be prepared for the program to become permanent, because that is the nature of the evolution of a complex economic and social system.

Evans-Pritchard also writes that "the mistakes in the vaccine procurement process were not accidental", but are "intrinsic to the institution's ideology".

How long will it take for all Europeans to realize that the sole purpose of the Brussels bureaucratic apparatus is its self-preservation, and for its true capacity to solve Europe's problems to become apparent even to the most ardent supporters of European "unity"?

Delays in the vaccination campaign could have an economic effect even during Germany's September 2021 general election.

With Angela Merkel leaving the political scene, Ms von der Leyen's position at the head of the European Commission can quickly become "unsustainable", especially as the "scapegoat" industry is never lacking in demand.

In his article in the Manager Magazin, Daniel Stelter also points out that "panic is spreading in Brussels and Berlin", and the decision to ban vaccine exports has particularly serious implications.

"The business community now knows that anyone which has a production capacity in the EU faces the risk of an export ban" and "every company needs to assess whether the risk of manufacturing in the EU for the global market is acceptable". Stelter thinks that it isn't.

And that's not all. The German economist also claims that "the destruction of confidence in the EU as a location for business is part of the already existing trend of over-regulation and planned control of the economy".

As "the gap between desire and reality widens", the EU is moving further and further away from the goal set in Lisbon in 2000, to become "the most competitive economy in the world", and Stelter warns that "the EU is being left behind by the US and China in all sectors of the future ".

It seems that it is too late to invent a "vaccine" to stop the accelerated decline of the European Union.