Von der Leyen to map EU priorities in annual State of the Union speech
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will on Wednesday deliver her annual State of the European Union speech to the European Parliament, setting out her priorities for the next year and her wider plan for dealing with the European Union's main challenges. The address is expected to touch on issues including artificial intelligence, climate change, the fires that swept across Europe this summer, online safety for children, Russia's war on Ukraine, conflict in the Middle East and international trade tensions.
The contents of the speech in Strasbourg have been kept under wraps, even as political groups in Parliament have tried to get their priorities included. Modelled on the State of the Union speeches delivered by US presidents, the annual event is meant to present the European Commission's ambitions, though it is followed most closely by EU insiders rather than the bloc's 450 million citizens across 27 member countries.
Last year, von der Leyen said Europe had to assert its independence as tariffs continued to be imposed and members of the Trump administration criticised the bloc's migration policies, warning of "civilisational erasure". "Europe is in a fight," von der Leyen said. "A fight for our values and our democracies." She added: "Battle lines for a New World order based on power are being drawn right now," and said the EU "must fight for its place in a world in which many major powers are either ambivalent or openly hostile to Europe."
The speech has become an annual political set piece, with lawmakers often applauding and von der Leyen typically ending with her rallying call, "Long Live Europe." Its themes are usually aspirational, focusing on her plans for the Commission, the EU's increasingly powerful executive arm, over the coming year, but often without much detail. Critics say the Commission's work is opaque.
Eric Maurice, an analyst at the European Policy Centre think-tank, warned against her using the speech "to placate political groups" or "to raise the Commission President's profile and extend the Commission's political and institutional domain". "The EU is facing the crumbling of all the premises on which it was built. The rules-based order with benevolent free-trade and U.S. friendship and support is disappearing," Maurice said.
The Commission proposes laws used across all 27 member states and monitors whether existing rules are being followed. It also negotiates trade deals for the bloc and acts as Europe's top antitrust investigator. At its head is the 67-year-old former German defence minister, who has become a prominent figure at global summits despite being a political appointee rather than someone elected to the EU's top post.
Von der Leyen has built influence over seven years in office by securing vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic, managing the energy crisis triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and backing Kyiv through the war. The article said she also appears to have the grudging respect of Trump. She, her chief of cabinet and her trade commissioners have worked to limit the damage from Trump's tariff war to the European economy. At the same time, the Trump administration has been angered by the Commission's action against Big Tech companies, many of them American, over what Europe sees as breaches of its data rules.
Ahead of the speech, the Commission has launched a website focused on its president and the event, and has been circulating brochures listing its achievements over the past 12 months. These include new trade agreements, efforts to boost economic competitiveness, moves to cut energy costs, steps to increase defence investment, billions of euros in support for Ukraine and sanctions on hundreds of Russian officials and organisations. Wednesday's speech is expected to serve as both a statement of priorities for the coming year and a recap of the Commission's work over the past year.
