Croatia. Italy. Spain. It sounds like a dream vacation to hit some of Europe's most beautiful beaches, but Ursula von der Leyen wasn't planning to do any sunbathing.

While many in the Brussels bubble have decamped for the summer holidays, the European Commission president-elect is making the rounds this week, visiting leaders in Zagreb, Madrid and Rome. She also received Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš in Brussels on Monday and is expected to get a similar visit from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Thursday.

While aides did not provide any official explanation of her opening itinerary, and are not yet publishing her agenda in advance, this week's meetings — combined with visits to Paris and Warsaw last week — suggest von der Leyen is sticking close to some of her strongest backers as she seeks to get her footing on the European stage and build support for the ambitious agenda that she hastily constructed in order to win confirmation by the European Parliament.

The Visegrad Four — which include Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia — were, along with Italy, instrumental in blocking an alternative leadership slate that would have installed Frans Timmermans, the nominee of the Social Democrats, as Commission president. By the end of this week, von der Leyen will have seen the leaders of four of those five countries.

Unlike Timmermans, von der Leyen did not campaign for the EU's top executive post as the Spitzenkandidat, or lead candidate, of her conservative European People's Party (EPP). She was the surprise pick of the European Council, and her visits seem designed as a get-to-know-you exercise — a sort of campaign swing after the fact, dressed up as a listening tour since she no longer needs anyone's vote.

"It is important for me to hear and to listen to you, what is of special interest for you," she said in Zagreb on Tuesday before meeting Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. "I am glad to be here. I know I am here with friends, friends that are working hard for a strong European Union."

Rebalancing act

If von der Leyen's remarks are often limited on specifics, she seems intent on capitalizing on the fact that in a bloc of 28 nations virtually everyone sees the EU as tilted slightly away from their most immediate interests — giving her the ability to promise a rebalancing.

It's likely to prove an effective message on a Continent where Old Europe feels nostalgic for a smaller, easier-to-manage Union, where the up-and-coming east feels it is treated unfairly compared with the well-established west, where the north feels its self-sufficiency is taken for granted and the south often feels stereotyped as putting pleasure before business.

"My political goal is to be rebalance this European Union, to rebalance between east and west, south and north, to rebalance between small and larger countries or between younger and older countries," von der Leyen said in Zagreb.

She added: "Because we all know whatever category we think we are in, we all know we will only tackle all these topics and problems if we are united, if we are prosperous, if we are strong. And I know that the world is calling for more Europe and we need a strong European voice and this can only be achieved if we are united."

Von der Leyen is also clearly reaching out to nations that have had some of the sharpest tensions with Brussels, particularly Poland and Hungary.

Or put another way: divided we fall, united we sip prosecco and pay our people social benefits.

From stop to stop, her rhetoric is consistent, but she is not reading a script. In each case, von der Leyen appears to be tailoring her message for the locals.

In Croatia, which holds its first-ever presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of next year, she stressed that she would support its efforts to join the euro common currency zone and the Schengen visa-free travel area.

"The fact that in the beginning of next year you will be the presidency of the European Union shows that Croatia is a tremendous success story of the European Union," she said. "And I know that your country is a role model for many many other countries, so my respect and congratulations from the bottom of my heart for these achievements."

Reaching out

Von der Leyen also expressed her gratitude to Plenković, who supported her candidacy after it was clear that the EPP's lead candidate, German MEP Manfred Weber, could not win sufficient support among socialist and liberal leaders.

"I am personally very grateful for the strong support ... you gave me during my candidacy as president of the European Commission," she said.

It was not a particularly long candidacy — essentially a night of discussions at an EU summit after angry conservatives blocked an attempt to make Timmermans the Commission president. Then came just under two weeks of maneuvering to win confirmation by the European Parliament.

In her brief remarks in Zagreb, von der Leyen echoed some issues she touched on during the confirmation process, such as border security and the European defense union as well as the need to strengthen support for working parents and address demographic change — a message of particular resonance in Central and Eastern Europe.

"If we look at the global map and we look ahead 20, 30, 40 years, we know that many many countries of the northern part of the world will face demographic change," she said.

After a stop in Berlin, where she saw Chancellor Angela Merkel, and a visit to Paris last week to see France's Emmanuel Macron, von der Leyen's meetings with Spain's Pedro Sanchez in Madrid on Wednesday and Italy's Giuseppe Conte on Friday mean that she will have conferred with the leaders of the EU's four largest countries — not counting the U.K., which is still trying to quit.

But she is also clearly reaching out to nations that have had some of the sharpest tensions with Brussels, particularly Poland and Hungary.

A planned 45-minute meeting in Warsaw last Thursday with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stretched on for two hours in what one Polish official described as a “very substantial” discussion.

The meeting was much more focused on strategic plans for the EU than on what the new Commission will look like, the official said, adding that the talk focused on tax issues, the EU’s long-term budget, climate goals, transport policy, and how to compete with Asian markets.

Morawiecki and von der Leyen agreed on the need for European “global champions,” the official noted, adding that Morawiecki told the incoming Commission president Poland was not opposed to more ambitious climate goals but first wanted more details on her proposal for a "Just Transition Fund" to help deal with the economic impact of a faster shift away from fossil fuels.

Some skeptics worry that von der Leyen's outreach means she will be softer on rule-of-law concerns than her predecessor Jean-Claude Juncker.

Orbán in particular will be looking for some easing of the pressure when he sees her in Brussels on Thursday. The Commission has sharply criticized Budapest for undermining democratic principles and the European Parliament has initiated a disciplinary procedure against the country under Article 7 of the EU treaty.

The Hungarian leader “wants to talk about concessions on the Commission’s participation in the Article 7 procedure, cohesion funds allocation, and the portfolio of the Hungarian commissioner,” said a senior official from Orbán's Fidesz Party.

In her speech before Parliament in mid-July, von der Leyen insisted she would never compromise on the rule of law, but in interviews after her confirmation emphasized the need for "dialogue" rather than threatening punishment against countries accused of democratic backsliding.

The incoming Commission president's eastern outreach has already won her some fans.

"We are very proud the Czech Republic could get this meeting," Czech Prime Minister Babiš said following his meeting with von der Leyen. It is "very important that the chief of Commission understand the mentality" of Central and Eastern Europe, he added.