The European Parliament's endorsement on July 18 of German Ursula von der Leyen for a second five-year term as president of the European Commission marks a bid for continuity in the EU's executive branch with a seasoned politician whose European tenure has been inextricably bound to the fortunes of the bloc's political center. An accomplished scion of the European project's founding generation of senior civil servants, the Belgian-born von der Leyen built a successful career as an adroit and effective cabinet minister under German Chancellor Angela…
