Just days after Ursula von der Leyen returned from a visit to China on April 7th, the president of the European Commission had been due to fly to South America to nudge a trade deal along. In a small act of mercy, the meeting with the Brazilian president has had to be postponed. She probably needs the breather. In the last four months her diary has included a visit to President Joe Biden in Washington, a well-received address to the Canadian parliament, tea with King Charles near London, a guest appearance at a German cabinet meeting, repeat summits of the eu’s 27 national heads in Brussels and trips to see the leaders of France, Italy, Sweden, Estonia, Britain, Norway and Ukraine. Next month she will jet off to attend the g7 summit in Japan.These jaunts are no grandstanding indulgence. The eu is in the midst of upheaval. War on the European continent has forced a recasting of its six-decade peace project. Mrs von der Leyen is shaping the response to the challenges buffeting the eu, from missing Russian gas to anaemic defence spending. Its economy, just out of covid-19, is on a new set of tracks, the better to counter America’s protectionist green subsidies, lessen Europe’s over-reliance on China and deal with the imperatives of climate change.
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