POLITICS: EU Leaders Failed Up – USSA News

Mark Rutte was the Dutch Prime Minister from 2010 to 2024, making him the longest-serving in the country’s history, failed in a few key areas, yet he was picked to run NATO.

Defense Spending: As NATO’s new Secretary General since October 2024, Rutte’s been criticized for the Netherlands’ lagging defense budget during his tenure. It dipped as low as 1.15% of GDP in 2014 and only hit the NATO 2% target in 2024, his final year. Some, like US Senator Dan Sullivan, argued this disqualified him from leading NATO, calling it a “dismal record.”

Coalition Instability: Three out of his four governments fell before their terms ended, the last in 2023 over migration policy disputes. His fourth cabinet couldn’t agree on asylum rules, highlighting his struggle to hold diverse coalitions together. If you measure success by stability, that’s a serious mark against him.

Childcare Subsidies Scandal: In 2021, his third cabinet collapsed after a report revealed that thousands of families were wrongly accused of fraud in a childcare benefits scheme, plunging them into financial ruin. Rutte resigned over it, accepting responsibility, though he bounced back after the 2021 election with another coalition. Some saw this as a major failure of oversight—his government’s aggressive policies ruined lives, and he didn’t exactly overhaul the system afterward.

Ursula von der Leyen ran Germany’s Defense Ministry from 2013 to 2019 before becoming European Commission President. Her time there’s often labeled a failure, especially in Berlin!

When she took over, the German military (Bundeswehr) was already underfunded post-Cold War. By 2019, it was a mess—lacking personnel, equipment, and readiness. A 2018 report showed only a fraction of tanks and planes were operational. Rupert Scholz, a former defense minister, called it “catastrophic” and “irresponsible.” She promised modernization but didn’t deliver, and her predecessors got the blame, though after six years, that excuse wore thin.

This is the same person pushing for billions for defense spending in Europe today. Defense spending rose under her, but not to NATO’s 2% goal (it hovered around 1.3% by 2019). She faced flak over costly consultant contracts and a botched warship refurbishment. Audits show that she mismanaged funds and dodged accountability.

Insiders described her as distant, relying on a tight circle of aides who controlled info flow. Troops and officers felt disconnected—photo-ops of her posing with gear were dismissed as fake while her push for DEI alienated many.

Connecting the Dots

Beyond Rutte and von der Leyen—who’ve climbed the ladder despite questionable track records, there are notable examples from the EU.

Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief since 2019, is another failure. In Spain, he was a big player—Finance Minister, then Socialist leader—but scandals dogged him. In 2018, he got fined €30,000 for insider trading after selling shares in a company he chaired right before it tanked. He claimed ignorance, paid up, and still snagged the EU gig. His tenure’s been criticized too: his blunt style—like calling Europe a “garden” and the rest a “jungle” in 2022—ruffled feathers, and he’s struggled to unify EU foreign policy on issues like Gaza or China. Yet, he’s held the post, outlasting critics.

Christine Lagarde (European Central Bank President) is a classic case of rising despite incompetence. Before the ECB in 2019, she led the IMF, where she weathered the Eurozone crisis by pushing austerity that tanked Greece’s economy—unemployment hit 27% by 2013 under her watch. Earlier, as French Finance Minister, she was convicted in 2016 of negligence in a €400 million payout scandal involving a businessman pal of French PM Nicolas Sarkozy’s. No penalty, though—her reputation somehow stayed intact. At the ECB, she’s been slammed for slow inflation responses (eurozone inflation peaked at 10.6% in 2022), yet she’s still steering the ship.

Donald Tusk (Polish PM, ex-EU Council President) ran the European Council from 2014 to 2019. In Poland as PM (2007–2014, and again since 2023), his record is questionable. His first stint saw a wiretapping scandal that exposed cronyism and sank his party in 2015. Critics say he dodged accountability, jetting off to Brussels. Now back in Warsaw, he’s pushing EU-friendly reforms, but his old baggage—like failing to fix Poland’s judicial mess—still trails him. Still, he’s a top dog again.

António Costa (Incoming EU Council President) is set to take the EU Council reins in 2025 after being Portugal’s PM since 2015. Late 2024 brought a corruption probe—alleged kickbacks in lithium and hydrogen deals forced his resignation. No charges stuck, and he denied it all, yet the EU tapped him anyway. His failure didn’t stop the ascent; it was more like a speed bump.

Giorgia Meloni, for example, was excluded from 2024 EU top jobs talks, expressing dissatisfaction at the crooked system.

Charles Michel was criticized for poorly organized EU summits and ignoring Commission decisions, yet he advanced to European Council President according to Wikipedia. His Belgian government collapsed in 2018 due to internal disputes, but he still got promoted, which certainly fits “failed up.”

Broader Trend

These cases show a pattern: Borrell’s scandals didn’t kill his EU clout; Lagarde’s conviction didn’t dent her finance cred; Tusk and Costa leveraged “experience” over blemishes.

EU leaders are picked more for their ideological alignment—a commitment to European integration, liberalism, or specific political agendas—than for competence or past performance.

Von der Leyen is a prime case. President Macron pushed her as a pro-EU, federalist-leaning figure who’d keep France-Germany aligned. Her Christian Democrat (EPP) roots checked a box, and her gender nodded to progressive optics. Critics like Germany’s Die Zeit called it a “backroom deal,” not a merit pick. Her ideology—staunchly pro-integration, green agenda, EU defense—fit the bloc’s direction, even if her past screamed incompetence.