In December 2019, Ursula von der Reyen returned to Brussels, a city where he spent his childhood, with the promise of calm and visionary of a confident centralist.
Green’s deal stands at the heart of her first presidency, offering climate hopes and a surprisingly supportive touch, with liberal Danish vice president Margurete Westerger and socialist Dutchman Franz Timmermans adjoining co-stars in her ensemble cast.
It was season 1.
But once season 2 begins, her first semester followers may be thinking they are still watching the same show.
Or at least the hero is switched and asks if the doppelganger took the helm.
So what happened – is Ursula von der Reyen suffering from an identity crisis or is she simply channeling her inner political shapeshifter?
Different styles, different priorities
The new Ursula appears to be a practical political realist and even a Machiavelian.
An important part of this shift to centralization could be attributed to her powerful chief of staff, Bjoern Seibert.
In season one, Maverick commissioners such as France’s Thierry Breton and Luxembourg’s Nicholas Schmidt developed as characters critical of von der Leyen’s decision. This is now gone from the script, and Ursula has left the Ensemble Lead to the Solo Act.
Most importantly, they have been replaced by low profile allies who remain in the dark about key decisions. Most notably, especially when the committee member is told that he saw the numbers right after the official curtains raised the proposal.
The core priorities seem to have disappeared. There is an air of political amnesia, or perhaps strategic dissociation, where past commitments are forgotten or discarded.
But what is the real colour of Ursula von der Reyen? Is she still a 2019 “Green Queen” or has she transformed into the grey power consociation “VDL”?
Strange case of a disappearing green trade
Let’s rewind to 2019 when von der Leyen turned the Green Deal into the crown jewel of her presidency.
At the time, “green” was not just a policy, it was an atmosphere. Green trading was to change the European economy, its agriculture and transport. Fast forward today: The atmosphere is off.
Her environmental missions seem increasingly far, if not completely abandoned.
Today, the Green Deal is not only visible from rhetoric but also official documents. For example, the term has not been mentioned once in the proposal for a new long-term EU budget.
Many of the pillars are disassembled one by one.
The most obvious example is the systematic rollback of green deal initiatives such as carbon boundary adjustment mechanisms via so-called “omnibus” simplification proposals, with the latest retreats including the Green Claims Directive proposed to combat Green Wash.
More iconic is the disappearance of the “Farm to Fork” strategy that once disappeared from speeches, policy documents and public messages on the agricultural side of green trading.
The omission from the committee’s longtime “vision of agriculture and food” was a practically quiet burial, reducing the visuals of the document and making it even more praiseworthy.
Officially, the committee remains denied, but signs of abandonment are impossible to ignore.
European Assault Cancer Plans – Missing Beats?
It tells the story of the focus of the shift rather than the only colour fades from von del Reyen’s palette. The health file has quiet code blue and contains important life support documents.
In her first term, von der Leyen defended the European Health Union, defending the cancer program as the cornerstone. The committee pledged to the table for 4 billion euros, a full attack on tobacco, alcohol, asbestos and other risk factors for cancer.
However, the momentum slowed dramatically.
Measures targeting tobacco and alcohol reductions have stagnated, and once prioritized regulations (such as the use of governed sunbeds) have been quietly removed.
The new EU4Health budget reflects this decline.
In 2024, 115 million euros were allocated specifically for cancer. In 2025, this was reduced to 60 million euros, but now covers not only cancer, but cardiovascular and other non-communicable diseases.
It is unclear how well the original vision will survive by distracting pandemic preparations and other priorities.
And Brussels insiders ask, with more open files than the open funding line: Are health promotion and fighting cancer reassigned to sleepy interns and relegated to historic footnotes?
Returning to her roots: Defense and military power
Still, amid abandonment of green and health priorities, von der Reyen appears to be more energised than ever, but in another respect it is a defensive.
A year after her second term, the former German defense minister returned to his familiar territory. With the Green Deal retreating, she seized a geopolitical moment and promoted a stronger European defence industry.
Her previous life as German defense minister has returned to fashion (and Franztimmermans no longer breathes green fire around her neck), von der Leyen has been fiercely fighting for the defense of Europe.
Example: The EU’s upcoming budget cycle (starting in 2028) proposes a five-fold increase in defense and space funds. The national defense budget has also been increased, spurred by the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Her committee has recently proposed structural changes: redirecting the cohesive fund to defense, relaxing fiscal rules, allowing for an increase in military spending, launching the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF), and offering low interest rate loans under the safety scheme.
The focus is also on simplifying defense procurement rules and supporting the joint R&D initiative.
Still come: military mobility packages aimed at streamlining the movement of the military and equipment, and the announcement of the true “European Defense Coalition” plans.
The EU is facing testing as the US is increasingly focused on the Indo-Pacific. Can I become a trusted security actor within NATO? And will von der Leyen’s defense bear fruit in time to stop potential threats, especially from Russia, by 2030?
Verdict: The ju judges are still out…
From Green Deal’s visionary to defence strategists, Von Der Leyen’s transformation has frowned over Brussels and disrupt many.
The contrast between the two instructions was not Starker. So who is the real Ursula von der Reyen?
Is she an eco-champion who once promised to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent? Or will iron driven strategists integrate forces and focus on geopolitical muscles?
Probably both. Perhaps only one of them really existed. Or maybe both.
What’s clear is that the second mission is not just the same. It’s a whole new season and a new cast. The same protagonist wears the same blazer, but has different habits and different minds.
One thing is certainly true, especially in the US tariffs and budgetary disputes, as Brussels is waiting for the next plot twist. Ursula von der Reyen is playing another game.
And other parts of Europe? I’m still trying to figure out if this is a character arc… or a full reboot.
