Then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis welcomes German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen to the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., June 20, 2018. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

The European Council (the EU institution that essentially acts as a forum for the heads of government of the EU’s member states) has just come up, after much wrangling, with the selection of candidates for the union’s most-senior jobs.

It is recommending that the EU’s top bureaucrat (the president of the Commission) should be Ursula von der Leyen, a loyal Merkel ally, who has been Germany’s defense minister since 2013. Years of neglect under Merkel before von der Leyen took office means that she is by far from being the only culprit for the chaotic, underfunded state of Germany’s armed forces. Nor is von der Leyen solely to blame for Germany’s continuing unwillingness to meet its NATO spending commitments. Nevertheless, she has been defense minister for over five years now.

And, notes the Independent:

[S]he has also faced controversy at home: in December she faced a parliamentary probe over claims of poor management and nepotism in relation to her department’s awarding of contracts and close relationship with defence consultants.

The daughter of a prominent EU official, von der Leyen believes, over the longer term, in a United States of Europe and, oh yes, a united EU military.

Meanwhile, the European Council’s new president is slated to be Belgium’s Charles Michel, currently the country’s interim prime minister after the break up of his previous coalition.

Josep Borrell, Spain’s foreign minister, has been put forward as the EU’s foreign minister, or as the job is informally known, high representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. He’s been in the news for his opposition to Catalan independence, and also for what must, I am sure, be a misunderstanding,

EFE:

Spain’s foreign minister has been fined 30,000 euros ($33,980) by the national stock market regulator for what it described as a very serious breach in rules intended to govern insider trading, an infringement that has on Tuesday triggered calls for his resignation. The fine imposed by the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) on Josep Borrell was for the sale of shares in energy company Abengoa while he was a board member and was published in Spain’s official state bulletin. “We impose on Mr. José Borrell Fontelles, for the commission of a very serious violation of article 282.6 of the Securities Market Law in the sale, on behalf of a third party, of 10,000 shares of Abengoa, SA, for 9,030 euros, on Nov. 24, 2015, having privileged information on this company,” the bulletin said. Borrell had acknowledged in Oct., when the commission said it would take action against him, that the sale “gave an impression of being irregular,” but defended it by saying it only represented eight percent of his portfolio.However, the penalty has led lawmaker Pablo Iglesias, leader of the left-wing Podemos party, to call for Borrell’s resignation as the country’s top diplomat.

Finally (for now), there’s IMF boss Christine Lagarde. She has been nominated to take over the European Central Bank, the guardian of the euro. Call me a cynic, but I’m not entirely convinced that the currency is in safe hands.

The Guardian (2016):

Christine Lagarde has been found guilty of negligence in approving a massive payout of taxpayers’ money to controversial French businessman Bernard Tapie but avoided a jail sentence. A French court convicted the head of the International Monetary Fund and former government minister, who had faced a €15,000 (£12,600) fine and up to a year in prison. But it decided she should not be punished and that the conviction would not constitute a criminal record. On Monday evening the IMF gave her its full support.

And Reuters from 2010 (my emphasis added):

Euro zone policymakers deliberately chose to “violate” the bloc’s rules in rescuing Greece and Ireland, closing ranks to protect the single currency area’s future, French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde was quoted as saying. The EU’s governing Lisbon Treaty places constraints on bailouts. European leaders agreed at a summit on Thursday to amend it by creating a permanent financial safety net from 2013. In comments reported on Saturday by the Wall Street Journal, Lagarde said the amendment amounted to a “major adjustment,” but that a change was necessary after the tumult of this year’s debt crisis. The Greek and Irish bailouts and the creation of a temporary European rescue fund had been “major transgressions” of the treaty. “We violated all the rules because we wanted to close ranks and really rescue the euro zone,” Lagarde was quoted as saying. “The Treaty of Lisbon was very straight-forward. No bailout.”

Oh well.




As grimly entertaining as this list of bunglers and miscreants may be, their nominations contain a more important message. They show that, for all the populist discontent, the machinery of “ever closer union” grinds on and, with the awkward Brits out of the way, it may indeed even pick up more speed.

Good times.