When crises strike the beach: The political perils of European leaders on summer vacation

BRUSSELS — Geopolitical crises and natural disasters have an annoying habit of rocking Europe in the middle of summer, when the bloc’s political leaders are off soaking up the sun or unplugging in some bucolic retreat.

While the continent’s governments have proved remarkably adept at functioning with their leaders on holiday, in a crisis, being seen to be present can matter almost as much as actually being there.

“Emotions play an important role in crisis communication,” said Olga Eisele, a crisis-communications researcher at the University of Amsterdam. “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.”

“Physical presence can signal much more effectively that these emotions are taken seriously and are heard,” she added.

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 on July 30. The Socialist leader duly 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.

But as soon as the emergency was deemed to be under control, Sánchez resumed his scheduled vacation at a state-owned villa on the island of Lanzarote.

His decision to take time off, even as the political aftershocks continued to roil the bloc, drew criticism from opposition politicians like Elías Bendodo, deputy secretary of the center-right People’s Party, who this week accused the prime minister of “unprecedented selfishness” for taking time off while the situation in Ceuta is “far from normal.”

“Sánchez insults the Spanish people by remaining on his beach vacation,” he added.

The Spanish government rejected the criticism, noting the prime minister is not only reachable but actively participating in remote meetings, and insisted the state remains fully operational even when its top leaders are away.

The perils of taking time off

Sánchez isn’t the only EU leader reluctant to let the Ceuta crisis spoil their August break.

At a moment when passport-free travel has been suspended between Spain and Italy, and its prime ministers are openly criticizing each others’ policies, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen appears to have embraced the quieter side of summer in an undisclosed rural location.

With the migration row still ongoing this week, 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 told POLITICO that von der Leyen continues to track developments across the bloc and “remains in constant contact with her team in Brussels and her College.”

“While family time is important, she always follows all critical matters closely, remains fully engaged, and intervenes directly whenever needed,” the spokesperson added, insisting the Commission president 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 stressed that 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.

Similarly, some national governments like Finland’s publicly announce when ministers are on summer holidays and which of their deputies are handling their portfolios.

“What matters from a crisis-management perspective is that the responsible authorities can take decisions quickly, mobilise the necessary resources and coordinate the response,” said a separate Commission spokesperson.

But even when mechanisms are in place to ensure governments have the ability to manage dramatic situations, officials on holiday risk looking callous or indifferent if they continue to holiday during a crisis.

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 the year before. Germany’s federal Family Minister Anne Spiegel also resigned in the face of backlash for similarly taking a four-week holiday in France in the aftermath of the catastrophe.

Evangelina Petridou, a crisis management expert and political science professor at Mid Sweden University, said a number of factors shape the intensity of backlash to a leader’s absence during a crisis. “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,” can all have an effect.

Another factor is the time of year, said Eisele, the crisis-communications researcher at the University of Amsterdam.

“If leaders are on holiday, then it is usually also a time when not much else is happening — in Germany we call that the Sommerloch,” Eisele said, explaining that the absence of hard news can turn an otherwise routine absence into a political drama.

She added 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.

Should I stay or should I go?

Senior British military officials accused then-U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson of “dereliction of duty” for his decision to head off on a holiday in Somerset as Taliban forces moved to take Kabul in August 2021. His foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, faced even greater criticism for remaining on vacation in Crete until after the Afghan capital fell, at a moment when British forces were frantically trying to evacuate civilians.

Although he was also on holiday when the Taliban took Kabul, French President Emmanuel Macron did not face similar censure. From the Fort de Brégançon, the coastal retreat traditionally used by France’s head of state, 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 in August 2024 as far-right riots spread across England, and Portugal’s Prime Minister Luís Montenegro similarly declined to take time off as wildfires tore across the country last year.

But data suggests Europeans don’t necessarily expect their leaders to sacrifice their time off at the first sign of trouble.

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.

Politicians on the continent may also face less pressure to sacrifice their holidays, given a working culture in which time off is widely regarded as a right. International Labor Organization data shows Europeans are entitled to more paid annual leave than workers in any other part of the world, and polling like Eurofound’s annual European Working Conditions Survey shows the bloc’s citizens strongly value work-life balance.

For that reason, the University of Amsterdam’s 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.”