Von der Leyen speaks for the last time in office with thoughts on the future

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks on the State of the Union this Wednesday for the fourth and final time in her term, focusing on the future of the European project in the face of calls for EU reform and enlargement. public block.

At a time when the European economy is experiencing slower growth, when there are fears of a resurgence of the Covid-19 outbreak and when Russia continues its military aggression against Ukraine, Ursula von der Leyen speaks this Wednesday from 9:00 am (local time). (minus one in Lisbon) in the semi-circle of the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, to express its vision of the European Union (EU).

The speech, which is an annual event, comes four years after the election of Von der Leyen, who began her first term as the community’s chief executive in December 2019, and less than a year before the 2024 European elections scheduled for June. .

Precisely because it is about the full countdown to the next European elections, this speech will be more future-focused than previous ones, which have been marked by contexts such as the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 (with the announcement of measures such as to strengthen Health Union), the 2021 energy crisis (with the revelation of the RepowerEU energy plan and the taxation of emergency energy profits) and the war in Ukraine caused by the Russian invasion in 2022, which motivated defense initiatives and led to her honorary invitation to address Ukraine’s First Lady Elena Zelenska .

Ursula von der Leyen’s focus will now be on the future, at a time when there are calls for institutional reform at community level, namely to welcome new members such as Ukraine (which has candidate status since June 2022), and when such Countries like Portugal are calling for common economic responses as permanent mechanisms to cope with crises.

Faced with calls for a sort of Marshall Plan to fund the reconstruction of Ukraine, as aid similar to the North American recovery program for European allies after World War II, the way this community support will be transferred to Kiev is to appeal to the community leader in its speech.

Ursula von der Leyen’s other bet for this Wednesday’s message, which will last between 40 minutes and an hour, is to focus on combating climate change, with extreme weather events on the rise in the EU such as floods caused by heavy rainfall and major rainfall events . forest fires caused by heat waves.

Every year in September, the State of the Union speech marks the official start of the new legislative year and takes place at the plenary meeting of the European Parliament in the French city of Strasbourg.

This speech was established by the Lisbon Treaty and consists of an assessment of the actions of the Community Executive and the presentation of the main European rates for the following year.