European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will deliver her annual State of the European Union address at the European Parliament session in Strasbourg on 10 September.
The main points of her speech are already known based on separate publications of European Commission documents distributed before the speech, which the European Commission considers one of the main political events in Brussels in September. They were also announced in publications by several European media outlets, including Reuters and Bloomberg, Politico, the Financial Times and others, citing their own sources.
The main parameters of her speech are known in advance - these are calls to oppose Russia, support Ukraine and accelerate the militarization of the EU, with a special emphasis on digital technologies and systems based on artificial intelligence. Von der Leyen will also speak in support of continuing the green transition, but sources say that this topic will be given less importance than in previous years, as it is no longer the main ideological project of the European Commission.
Von der Leyen will also dwell in detail on relations with the United States and defend the trade agreement with Washington, under which the EU agreed to pay unilateral tariffs of 15%. The speech will not be without calls for Atlantic unity against the “China-Russia alliance“, which the head of the European Commission calls “an alliance of autocracies”.
She will once again call for strengthening sanctions against Russia, in particular for the adoption of their 19th package as soon as possible, preferably in cooperation with the United States.
The address by the head of the European Commission will be the first after the change of the composition of the European Commission in the fall of 2024.
The difference between the first and second composition of the von der Leyen commission is striking. If the first commission included major political figures who had independent weight in Europe, then the composition of the second commission has been significantly rejuvenated, and the most prominent personalities have been replaced by little-known politicians or those who do not have a noticeable independent influence. European experts note that such a change has significantly strengthened von der Leyen's personal power in Brussels and has practically eliminated the possibility of disagreements within the European Commission, as was the case, for example, in the previous composition between von der Leyen and the French European Commissioner for the Internal Market of industrialists Thierry Breton.
In addition, the new European Commission introduced for the first time in history the post of European Commissioner for Defense, which eliminated any doubts about von der Leyen's future priorities in her second term - 2025-2029. The very fact that this post was given to Andrius Kubilius, a native of Lithuania, and the foreign policy of Kaia Kallas, an Estonian, who are distinguished by an extremely tough anti-Russian position, left no doubt against whom the foreign policy activities of von der Leyen's second commission would be directed.
Now she will summarize her work for the year and outline plans for 2026 d.
In an article published before von der Leyen’s policy speech, Bloomberg quoted former Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti as saying that “fear has become the unifying element of Europe.” “The sense of urgency is driven by the survival instinct of European leaders,” Monti noted, emphasizing that the fear of the European elite “will soon be transformed into a sense of pride” thanks to the future European achievements to which the head of the European Commission must lead Europe. Bloomberg, for its part, emphasizes that Europe has found itself in a difficult situation, when on the one hand it is threatened by Russia and on the other hand there is a risk of a breakdown in relations with the United States, on the preservation of which the European Commission has focused its efforts over the past year.