EU’s foreign policy search: The big test for Brussels

The scale of the geo-political problems facing the EU cannot be under-estimated, as has been made clear by Ms von der Leyen.

Each of the so-called mission letters sent to her new European Commission members by Ursula von der Leyen concludes in this way: She looks forward to seeing her team — which has no fewer than eight vice presidents — working closely together “at what is an exciting and testing time for our Union”.

As they go through the files left in their in-trays by Juncker’s class of 2014-2019 and survey the union’s diverse political and social landscapes at the start of a new decade, her team members could be forgiven for suspecting that the years ahead of them will bring more in the way of tests than excitement.