14 September 2022

EPC: Von der Leyen makes big promises, but will they be enough?

In her State of the Union (SOTEU) speech, President von der Leyen reaffirmed the EU's continued strong support for Ukraine and its people. The war and its aftershocks - skyrocketing energy prices and inflation - took up most of her speaking time.

 She pledged money and resources to rebuild the country, not to back down on sanctions, find concrete ways to lower people's energy bills, invest more in renewables and hydrogen and help small and medium businesses weather the coming storm. She even called for a European Convention to potentially change EU decision-making.

But despite all these promises and big aspirations, her speech also inevitably highlighted the EU's gaps and weaknesses. Will it be enough to assuage European people's worst fears and convince them that we can only get through this together? 

The EPC Round-up assesses pivotal EU policies from different angles. It collects contributions from EPC analysts and experts in the field, bringing together various points of view for a more comprehensive and nuanced picture.



“Never before has this Parliament debated the State of our Union with war raging on European soil.”

Today’s SOTEU speech was the most important of Commission President von der Leyen’s tenure. Halfway through her mandate, it was an opportunity to further shape the EU policy agenda for the next two years and show that the European Commission is ready to respond in the short, medium and long terms to the many crises set off by Russia’s illegal war of aggression on Ukraine.  

The address had to respond to the European Union’s three current tests: leadership, unity and solidarity. The leadership test means keeping Ukraine and its people – and European support for the war-torn country – at the top of the political agenda, preparing the European public for a difficult winter ahead, and proposing new ways to repel and counter Russia’s aggression. There was very little on the latter point besides reciting the harm done so far to the Russian economy.

Despite her rhetoric of “courage” and of facing a “war on our future,” von der Leyen’s address was underwhelming, with very few new concrete ideas on how to lead, stay united and build intra-EU solidarity in this age of permacrisis. Most of what was announced, especially in response to the energy crisis, is old news. On foreign policy, the level of generalisation and lack of detail was almost disheartening – and not even a single word on European defence. For a geopolitical Commission, that does not bode well for the future. Time will tell whether or not her German message on Europe’s dependency on China for critical raw materials – which are key for the twin digital and green transitions – gets lost in Berlin.

EPC

© European Policy Centre EPC