Ursula von der Leyen – A total failure as Germany’s minister of defence
The 28 EU heads of state this week chose Ursula von der Leyen as the new EU Commission President. She has been Germany’s Minister of Defence since 2013.
The German military (the Bundeswehr) is in a more catastrophic state right now than it has been at any point since its inception. Of the country’s 128 Eurofighters, for example, just 39 remain operational. And of the military’s 72 CH-53 heavy transport helicopters, a mere 16 are ready for action. In fact, only around one third of the Bundeswehr’s new tanks, fighter jets and helicopters are fit for active service. Around the world, eyebrows have frequently been raised as German ministers arrived late for international conferences and meetings because German military aircraft were so unreliable. Just last December, Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived at a G20 meeting 12 hours late and missed large parts of the programme.
At the presentation of the Bundeswehr’s annual report in 2018, Hans-Peter Bartels, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces, said: “There is large-scale mismanagement in all areas.” According to the report, less than half of the army’s major weapon and equipment systems are ready for deployment and there is a widespread shortage of spare parts.
Angela Merkel has always stood by von der Leyen, despite her repeated failings. And von der Leyen has always been loyal to Merkel, who has been strongly criticized in Germany for her refugee policy.
Von der Leyen was recently summoned to appear before a parliamentary inquiry. The investigative committee was investigating dozens of cases in which the minister’s employees are alleged to have broken strict procurement laws by directly awarding contracts to suppliers—without competition. Auditors from the Federal Audit Office uncovered a series of violations and in August 2018 identified “infringements that the ministry had accepted and even promoted with approval.” In most cases, the ministry had failed to examine or demonstrate the necessity or cost-effectiveness of hundreds of millions of euros worth of contracts allocated to external consultants.
Above all, the minister is accused of getting her policy priorities completely wrong. Here are some of the highlights.
Fashion Shows at the Ministry of Defence
Two years ago, von der Leyen surprised her generals by organizing fashion shows in the ministry of defence. Why? Because she wanted to introduce maternity uniforms for pregnant female soldiers. A total of 500 uniforms in various sizes and designs were tested—from field uniforms to service dress uniforms and tights. Some 80 volunteers had tested and evaluated the new uniforms, rating them on a range of criteria, including appearance, comfort and breathability. Prior to von der Leyen’s initiative, female soldiers had been required to wear civilian clothes once the uniforms got too small to fit over their baby bumps.
Child Daycare, Child Minders, More Comfortable Rooms
Almost immediately after taking office, von der Leyen announced that her goal was to improve childcare for military personnel, hire childminders and make the army’s childcare facilities more attractive. A total of €100 million in funding was approved for her new policy initiative. “The military needs a more flexible childcare system,” said von der Leyen, who had previously been Minister of Family Affairs. “We need to increase the involvement of childminders, especially for out-of-hours childcare. After all, childminders offer a particularly flexible form of childcare and we have the enormous advantage that there is room to provide childcare in many barracks.”
“Diversity Management”
In a major white paper von der Leyen outlined precisely how she aimed to change the culture within the Bundeswehr. She announced that her priorities included diversity and equal opportunities. There would be an increased focus on “diversity management” and “intercultural competence and multilingualism” in order to attract more women, immigrants and people with different sexual orientations to military roles, and to increase the number of older people, followers of different religions and disabled people in the ranks. This, she said, was a high priority issue. Von der Leyen also organized special workshops for the troops on “Dealing with sexual identity and sexual orientation in the Bundeswehr.”
That, rather than improved defence, is the record of Ursula von der Leyen, the new head of the European Commission. As a result of years of chronic underfunding, the Bundeswehr was already in a bad state when von der Leyen took office. But far from delivering improvements, the situation has actually deteriorated every year under her leadership. The armed forces commissioner Bartels criticized von der Leyen for promising again and again to turn things around and repeatedly failing to do so: “I would like to be able to report that it’s spring and the dark days of winter are behind us. But the truth is, it’s still winter.” Now Ursula von der Leyen looks like she’ll be escaping the hardships of winter – to continue Jean-Claude Juncker’s poor policies in Brussels.
Dr. Dr. Rainer Zitelmann is a German historian and sociologist. He is the author of 21 books including his latest book The Power of Capitalism