European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen remains in constant contact with her team in Brussels and her College despite the summer break, according to a Commission spokesperson — but the question of whether remote engagement is enough has become a flashpoint as migration pressures and natural disasters continue to hit the bloc.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was just hours away from kicking off his weeks-long summer break when 72,000 migrants surged into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta 15 days ago. The Socialist leader postponed his plans and traveled to the North African coastal city, where he delivered a televised address pushing back against criticism from other EU leaders. Once the emergency was deemed under control, Sánchez resumed his scheduled vacation at a state-owned villa on the island of Lanzarote.
The Political Cost of Absence
His decision to take time off drew criticism from Elías Bendodo, deputy secretary of the center-right People's Party, who accused the prime minister of "unprecedented selfishness" for taking time off while the situation in Ceuta is "far from normal." Bendodo added, "Sánchez insults the Spanish people by remaining on his beach vacation." The Spanish government rejected the criticism, saying the prime minister is reachable and actively participating in remote meetings, and insisted the state remains fully operational even when its top leaders are away.
The backlash reflects a broader tension in European politics: governments have proved adept at functioning with their leaders on holiday, but being seen to be present can matter almost as much as actually being there. Olga Eisele, a crisis-communications researcher at the University of Amsterdam, said: "Emotions play an important role in crisis communication. People are likely insecure, anxious, maybe furious or depressed about having lost things or even people, and want these emotions to be heard by those in charge." She added: "Physical presence can signal much more effectively that these emotions are taken seriously and are heard."
When Holidays Become Political Liabilities
In 2022, North Rhine-Westphalia Environment Minister Ursula Heinen-Esser was forced to step down after it was revealed that she had resumed a holiday break to Mallorca days after devastating floods killed over 180 people in western Germany 4 years ago. Germany's federal Family Minister Anne Spiegel also resigned after backlash for similarly taking a four-week holiday in France in the aftermath of the catastrophe.
Senior British military officials accused then-U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson of "dereliction of duty" for heading off on a holiday in Somerset as Taliban forces moved to take Kabul 5 years ago, and his foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, faced even greater criticism for remaining on vacation in Crete until after the Afghan capital fell. French President Emmanuel Macron, although also on holiday when the Taliban took Kabul, did not face similar censure because from the Fort de Brégançon he delivered a televised address to the nation that reinforced the perception that his government was taking care of the situation and doing everything it could to bring citizens home.
Fear of backlash leads many leaders to cancel holidays amid crisis situations. Keir Starmer called off a family vacation 2 years ago as far-right riots spread across England, and Portugal's Prime Minister Luís Montenegro declined to take time off as wildfires tore across the country last year.
The Commission's Response
Von der Leyen posted a video on Instagram soliciting names for two chicks hatched by her hen, Chickeletta. Despite the light-hearted post, a Commission spokesperson said she continues to follow developments across the bloc, is fully engaged, and intervenes directly whenever needed. The spokesperson said she had closely followed the developments in Ceuta and was in daily contact with the three commissioners involved in directly addressing the crisis. The spokesperson also said the Commission remains fully operational throughout the summer, with "duty commissioners" appointed to ensure a member of the College is available during the periods when Brussels becomes a ghost town.
A separate Commission spokesperson said, "What matters from a crisis-management perspective is that the responsible authorities can take decisions quickly, mobilise the necessary resources and coordinate the response."
Public Expectations and Political Reality
Evangelina Petridou, a crisis management expert and political science professor at Mid Sweden University, said several factors shape the intensity of backlash to a leader's absence during a crisis, including whether the opposition weaponizes the event, whether it is a majority or minority government and whether there is an institution in place to handle the crisis that can take the heat away from the individual minister or public official. Olga Eisele said that if leaders are on holiday, it's usually also a time when not much else is happening, which in Germany is called the Sommerloch. She said that while a public official's physical presence is preferable, reassurance can also come remotely if the public is ultimately convinced the situation is being handled competently.
A July 2025 Ipsos poll found that 46 percent of Britons thought it was important that the prime minister take a holiday, while 44 percent believed the head of government should take about as much time off as the average worker. More than three-quarters — 78 percent — said it was important that the prime minister be easily contactable while away.
Europeans are entitled to more paid annual leave than workers in any other part of the world, according to International Labor Organization data, and Eurofound's annual European Working Conditions Survey shows the bloc's citizens strongly value work-life balance. Eisele said backlash over holiday absences is usually related to larger image issues. "If the leader has strong support, then not showing up immediately might be forgiven," she said. "But if the official in question is already having popularity problems, crises are usually a prime situation to question the competence of a political leader."
Why This Matters:
The debate over political holidays during crises reveals a fundamental tension in European governance: citizens expect their leaders to model the work-life balance the EU claims to champion, yet they also demand visible accountability when disasters strike. The question isn't whether governments can function remotely — they clearly can — but whether political legitimacy in a crisis requires physical presence. For leaders already struggling with public trust, the optics of absence can compound existing vulnerabilities. As climate change drives more frequent natural disasters and geopolitical instability continues to generate migration pressures, European politicians will face this calculus more often. The Commission's "duty commissioners" model offers institutional continuity, but it doesn't solve the deeper problem: in moments of collective anxiety, citizens want to see their leaders present, engaged, and sharing the burden — not just managing it from a distance.