Ursula von der Leyen & Angela Merkel
The opening episode of the series. The five most powerful offices in the European Union are simultaneously held by women; the episode begins by asking whether the visual uniformity of the candidate pool reflects ordinary politics or something more structured. It then works through the documented institutional record of the two figures most central to the others' rise: Ursula von der Leyen at the European Commission, and Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor who placed her.
Ursula von der Leyen has been President of the European Commission since 1 December 2019. She is the EU's first woman in the role and, at her 2024 reappointment, the first Commission president to serve two consecutive terms in twenty years. Angela Merkel served as Chancellor of Germany from 22 November 2005 to 8 December 2021 — sixteen years that shaped both the modern European Commission and the network from which its current leadership has been drawn.
