EU, Von Der Leyen: State Of The Union Address

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen touched on a number of pressing issues for the “old world” in her State of the Union speech, outlining EU policy priorities for the near future.

The energy transition is one of the topics on which the Commission has focused most of its attention during her mandate: “Four years ago, the European Green Deal was our answer to the call of history. And this summer, the hottest in the history of Europe, clearly reminded of this. We are committed to the European Green Deal. We are still ambitious. We are maintaining our growth strategy. And we will always strive for a fair and equitable transition. One thing will never change: we will continue to support European industry through this transition.” One answer to decarbonization is to increase the share of renewable energy, and the European Commission will present a ‘wind energy package.’ We will continue to speed up the issuance of permits. We will improve auction systems across the EU.” Regarding hydrogen energy, she said: “We are currently attracting more investment in clean hydrogen than the United States and China combined.”

Touching on relations with China, President von der Leyen emphasized that the anti-dumping investigation into electric vehicles continues: “The Commission is launching an investigation into the issue of subsidies in the field of electric vehicles coming from China. Global markets are flooded with Chinese electric vehicles at prices artificially propped up by massive government subsidies. This distorts our market. And since we do not accept this within the Union, we do not accept it outside it either.”

Regarding inflation, which is testing the EU economy, she explained, “Christine Lagarde and the ECB are working hard to keep inflation under control. We know that the return to the ECB’s medium-term target will take time,” and emphasized the “good news” of falling energy prices. Von der Leyen also explained that she would involve former ECB Chairman and former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi in this work. “We face three main challenges: jobs, inflation, and the business environment – the challenges that come at a time when we are also asking industry to lead the clean transition. I asked Draghi, one of Europe’s greatest economic minds, to produce a report on the future of European competitiveness.”

It was also inevitable to mention the topic of migrant management, which should be “humane,” and Ukraine, noting the intention to expand temporary protection for Ukrainians in the EU. Finally, the President spoke about the procedure for new countries to join the EU, which is “merit-based and the Commission will always defend this principle.”