EU Commission President Ursula von Leyen gave one of her most powerful speeches at the State of the Union of the European Union earlier today in the EU Parliament’s session in Strasbourg.
Her starting points were on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Russia’s threat to Europe. On the incursion of Russian drones into Polish airspace earlier today, the EU Commissioner President said that Europe needs to step up its support for Ukraine and more sanctions against Russia are needed. She reiterated that the EU is working on the 19th sanctions package against Russia and Europe will keep its transition to completely phase out Russian energy.
On energy the EU Commission President stressed on the importance to keep working for energy independence with increased renewables and a nuclear baseload.
President Ursula von der Leyen said that Europe has been the biggest backer of Ukraine with up to €170 billion in military aid but more is needed as Russia increases its military production and intensifies its attacks against Ukrainian civilians. The Commissioner President stressed that Russia must pay for its invasion of Ukraine through its frozen assets and a new scheme will be put in place called Qualitative Military Edge in which Russian frozen funds will be used to fund Ukrainian military development.
The Commissioner President defended herself over the trade deal that she struck with the United States in which European products have been tariffed by up to 15%. President Von der Leyen said that she can not risk the jobs of Europeans over a trade war and said access to the US market was important to avoid further economic challenges. She highlighted China’s and Russia’s closer relationship as a reason to contain and preserve European-US relations.
Social justice was also an important theme of the speech as she highlighted that the rising cost of housing is preventing workers from owning their homes and preventing people from having families. She announced that the EU will be amending state-aid rules to enable governments to invest more in social housing.
To foster growth in the EU, the EU will be opening a new multi-billion Euro Scaleup Europe Fund to invest in fastly growing tech companies, and will also be adopting key measures proposed in Mario Draghi’s report including reduction in bureaucracy and the simplification of major cross-border investments. Internal barriers and tariffs will also be cut.
President Von der Leyen was heckled by far-right and left-wing MEPs during her speech, but applause drowned the shouting when the Commissioner President invoked Europe’s freedoms
“The European Union is about protecting our freedoms. The shouting side should listen very carefully about the freedom to decide and to speak out and to move around the whole continent, the freedom to vote, to love and to pray, and to live in a union of equality. Our democracy and the rule of law are the guarantors of those freedoms.” she said.
The Commissioner President highlighted that respect for the rule-of-law will be a condition to access EU funds.
The danger of a dying press was also highlighted and the Commissioner President said that a dying independent media will give rise to more disinformation. The EU will be launching a new major initiative to support the independent press in Europe.
Climate change was also highlighted as the Commissioner President stated how Summers are increasingly growing hotter. A new EU fire and rescue centre will be opened in Cyprus but Europe needs to achieve climate resilience.
In on her concluding points the Commissioner President hailed the new agreement with the European Parliament which will phase out Council unanimity over certain issues such as foreign policy which will be decided by a qualified majority.
The Commissioner President concluded her speech with “Long live Europe.”
You can read the full speech here. Speech video below.
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