Von der Leyen Unlikely to Be Missed in German Politics

After long negotiations in Brussels, the EU heads of government agreed on a candidate for the post of European Commission President: Ursula von der Leyen, Germany's current Defence Minister, should get the job. In her home country though, von der Leyen has been losing more and more of her popularity.

Poor military equipment, illegal orders to external consultants - the minister is struggling. In the ARD DeutschlandTREND survey by Infratest Dimap in March 2018, 38 percent of the respondents were still satisfied with her work. The figure fell to only 25 percent in February of this year and come May, still only 28 percent of those surveyed said they were satisfied with Ursula von der Leyen's political work. Seemingly, should she get over the final European Commission hurdle, few in Germany will miss her on the domestic stage.