Most significant positive evidence
The strongest positive evidence concerns coordinated pandemic recovery, climate legislation, support for Ukraine and efforts to preserve European democratic institutions.
Person
Ursula von der Leyen
The assessment covers pandemic recovery, vaccine procurement, the European Green Deal, support for Ukraine, rule-of-law policy, migration externalisation and transparency failures.
This is a contemporary assessment current to 26 June 2026. It must be revised as later conduct and evidence become available.
Ethical assessment categories
Current published result
Overall ethical score
+31.54
Reasoned summary
Von der Leyen's record is moderately positive. She led consequential European cooperation during overlapping crises, but executive centralisation, opaque decision-making and migration externalisation weakened rights and accountability.
This assessment presents six separate ethical dimensions rather than one overall moral score. Each result must be read with its evidence, plausible range, confidence, disputes, exclusions, severe-harm findings and sources.
Most significant negative evidence
The score is reduced by migration arrangements exposing vulnerable people to abuse and by serious failures of transparency, especially around vaccine-procurement communications.
Read the full Ursula von der Leyen ethical assessment, evidence and sources
Six-dimensional ethical profile
The overall figure is the equal-weight average of the applicable dimensions. It does not replace the separate scores, evidence or uncertainty.
- Personal moral conduct
- +55.00
- Rights and dignity
- +17.63
- Nonviolence and harm
- +0.00
- Stewardship of power
- +30.00
- Wisdom and truthfulness
- +50.08
- Consequential legacy
- +36.50
- Severe-harm record
- No separate finding recorded
Assessment history
Ethical assessment: Ursula von der Leyen (2019–2026)
2019–2026 · Published assessment · reviewed June 26, 2026
Result: Six-dimensional ethical profile