He is the man everyone turns to in order to get things done in Brussels. He relies on party leaders to exert his influence over the European Parliament. And he leads the European Commission, an institution with 32,000 employees, as an extension of his brain, overseeing everything from social media posts to mid-level appointments. Nothing moves without the consent of Bjoern Seibert, the chief of staff of Ursula von der Leyen.
Seibert, the right-hand man of the President of the European Commission, is the most influential behind-the-scenes operator in Brussels. Haven’t heard of him before? That’s exactly how he likes it, writes POLITICO.
Alongside von der Leyen for about a decade, the 45-year-old man with a soft voice has built a reputation as a tireless worker, shrewd political strategist, and highly efficient operator who keeps his promises.
For top officials in Paris, Berlin, and Washington, he is a dream come true: finally, someone who can answer the phone and carry out tasks, a huge asset at a time when Europe was hit by crises.
"He is incredibly influential. No one was seen as understanding the EU and how to get things done better," said Phil Gordon, former national security advisor to Kamala Harris when she was Vice President of the United States.
Others say Seibert is "very smart" and "a strategic thinker." "He is by far the most powerful official in Brussels," said Mujtaba Rahman, head of the Europe department at the Eurasia Group organization.
Leads through control and fear
More comfortable behind the scenes than in the limelight, Seibert is extremely discreet. Among the few things known about him is that he is married, has two children, and works incredibly long hours. That's about it.
However, while in his second five-year term as chief of staff to von der Leyen, Seibert - sometimes unofficially referred to as the "co-president" of the Commission - faces increasing criticism from those who believe his power has grown too much.
In an interview with POLITICO at the beginning of June, former EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier lamented what he called an "authoritarian drift" in Brussels under von der Leyen's leadership and her "powerful chief of staff." This aligns with what six former and current Commission employees told the publication, namely that Seibert's insistence on approving everything, from his commissioners' viewpoints in public speeches to the names of individual candidates for the Cabinet, leads to blockages, delays, and demoralization.
Another effect is fear. Out of the 25 EU officials, diplomats, legislators, and experts contacted by POLITICO, only three agreed to speak publicly, and only one of them expressed any criticism. Several individuals cited fear of professional reprisals as the reason for wanting to remain anonymous.
Other Commission officials dismissed the criticism, stating that Seibert has generous time for debates - amounting to hundreds of hours, according to a balance sheet distributed to the publication - and that centralization has made the EU much more efficient. Seibert's defenders argue that blockages and delays are partly due to staff seeking input on files where higher-level guidance may not necessarily be required.
However, this version is contested by others who say that only Seibert and von der Leyen can be held accountable for a system they have created. "This Commission is very hierarchical, nothing can pass Bjoern without his consent," said Bas Eickhout, co-chair of the Greens group in the European Parliament.
The "silent killer" used Omertà
Anyone seeking information about Seibert's past will be disappointed: few things from his youth have made it into the public domain. In reality, Seibert is a discreet figure, though physically imposing - tall, a perfect English speaker with traces of dry humor, often seen near his boss, wearing New Balance sneakers and holding a stack of folders. He is quiet, but not in vain was he described by a Commission official as a "silent killer."
After completing his studies in East Germany in 2005, Seibert pursued a series of research grants at American academic institutions, including MIT, focusing primarily on defense and security.
Upon returning to Germany, he was hired at the Ministry of Defense, where he initially worked in the political department. At that time, his ability to work inhumanly long hours impressed and helped him secure a promotion to von der Leyen's cabinet, who was then the Minister of Defense.
An episode from 2019, after von der Leyen was chosen by EU leaders to be the next Commission President, reveals a key element of their partnership. Seibert was called to testify before a German parliamentary inquiry committee investigating how the Ministry of Defense's profitable contracts, during von der Leyen's tenure, were awarded to external consultants without proper oversight and if an informal network of personal connections facilitated these transactions.
His performance before the inquiry committee would have pleased even the most demanding mob bosses, writes POLITICO. "Seibert stated in an endless loop that he remembers nothing, absolutely nothing," according to a report from that time in the German press.
Seibert's loyalty was soon to be tested again.
The true culprit behind the vaccine scandal
After von der Leyen obtained the approval of EU leaders to become the President of the Commission, she needed a two-thirds majority in the European Parliament to be confirmed in office.
Normally, the task of securing a majority fell to Manfred Weber, a strong German conservative overseeing the umbrella group of center-right European parties. However, Weber was licking his wounds after being rejected for the EU leadership position in favor of von der Leyen. So the mission fell to Seibert, who, despite lacking experience as a political operator, managed to secure a majority of nine votes for von der Leyen through agreements outside the normal circle of so-called governing parties and reaching out to right-wing populists.
A German colleague said at the time that von der Leyen was confirmed due to the "significant contribution" of Seibert.
Once installed in the Commission, the two faced a wall of distrust. "When the Commission started, there was a lot of skepticism about von der Leyen and Bjoern's ability to control the institution because they didn't know how it worked. They disproved this in a few days," said a former French official.
Seibert, in particular, impressed his counterparts. "He was exceptionally well-prepared," the same official said. "He always showed that he knew exactly what was happening in French politics. It was clear that he was someone you could trust, but who was also concerned with control, with power."
Working in a small unit with a limited cadre of advisers mainly German speakers, von der Leyen and Seibert used the Covid-19 pandemic to consolidate their power.
Negotiating the contracts themselves was entrusted to Sandra Gallina, a senior health official at the Commission. In reality, say two former Commission officials, Seibert and von der Leyen were the ones leading the negotiations, culminating in the president's announcement in December 2020 of a deal to purchase millions of doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The New York Times reported that this agreement came after a text message exchange between von der Leyen and Pfizer's CEO. The Commission denies that the text messages contained anything substantial related to the negotiations but refused to show them to the American newspaper, which filed a lawsuit in this matter.
In the ensuing "Pfizergate" scandal, von der Leyen faced criticism - and a ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union - for not retaining the messages. And the case reached the European Public Prosecutor's Office led by Laura Codruța Kovesi.
However, some of the critics should have been directed towards Seibert, former officials said. "It was his responsibility," said one of the two former officials. "He is the reason for the monumental mistakes made by his president."
Everything goes through Bjoern
Loyalty was to come into play again in the final months of von der Leyen's first term and Seibert's within the Commission.
As von der Leyen was preparing for reelection (with Seibert as campaign manager), their decision to appoint a loyal German conservative as the EU envoy for small and medium-sized enterprises sparked a revolt. Four commissioners, including Breton, questioned the decision to nominate Markus Pieper instead of two women who apparently had scored higher in the selection process.
Two former officials recall that Seibert defended the nomination behind the scenes, saying he had "no flexibility" on this matter. Von der Leyen and Seibert should have withdrawn Pieper's nomination.
The two learned their lesson. When it came time to choose commissioners after von der Leyen's reelection in 2024, they removed Breton and his rebels and filled the College with less experienced candidates. Here too, Seibert was at the forefront, negotiating with political leaders in the European Parliament who had to approve the nominations during the hearings.
Once the hearings were over, Seibert set about vetting the individual Cabinet nominations based on gender and nationality criteria. Each commissioner had to submit the list of selected candidates for the Cabinet to the 13th floor, where the president's chief of staff personally approved or rejected the names.
"This is a sample of Seibert's style. He leaves nothing to chance," said a current senior Commission official, who noted that Seibert was the first chief of staff whose name was displayed on a panel, right below the president's name, in front of the elevator on the 13th floor of the Berlaymont building.
A control freak
Since then, Seibert's power within the Commission has strengthened. An example: the recent restructuring of the Secretary-General's office of the Commission, planned and subject to approval in January. Approval came after three months, not due to any issue, but because Seibert had not yet had the opportunity to review it.
A member of a European prime minister's cabinet joked, "I know he's a guy who doesn't know how to delegate and that this inability to delegate and the obsession to co-govern the commission with Ursula have caused blockages and frustrations in the cabinets."
In other cases, critics have been irritated by Seibert's tendency to stifle opposition. A senior official of the Parliament reiterated concern about Seibert's power: "He is in such a stage of full power that he speaks directly to the commissioners. He talks directly to politicians. He kind of forgets his place."
Overall, Seibert's reputation reflects the city he lives in: bureaucratic, power-obsessed, largely opaque, Brussels generates myths around powerful civil servants operating in the shadows, like Seibert.
Few people interviewed by POLITICO expressed serious concerns about Seibert's influence. However, it is significant that only one person out of 25 - a Dutch parliamentarian - was willing to publicly criticize him.
"In his interaction with the Parliament, he has always been a fair player and has kept his promises," said Bas Eickhout, a member of the Greens group. "The only issue is that this Commission is very hierarchical, and nothing goes without Bjoern's permission. This leads to a considerable number of files accumulating on his desk and many Commission officials not knowing when decisions will be made and what they will be."
T.D.