In the annual State of the European Union debate, MEPs quizzed Commission President von der Leyen about the EU’s most immediate challenges.
President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen started her second State of the European Union address highlighting that, in the biggest global health crisis for a century, the deepest global economic crisis for decades and the gravest planetary crisis of all time, “we chose to go it together. As one Europe. And we can be proud of it”. She stressed that Europe is among the world leaders in vaccination rates, while sharing half of its vaccine production with the rest of the world. Now the priority is to speed up global vaccination, continue efforts in Europe and prepare well for future pandemics.
Looking ahead, she noted that “digital is the make-or-break issue” and announced a new European Chips Act, bringing together Europe’s world-class research, design and testing capacities and coordinating EU and national investments on semi-conductors. On climate change, von der Leyen made clear that “since it is man-made, we can do something about it”. She highlighted that, with the Green Deal, the EU was the first major economy to present comprehensive legislation in this area and promised to support developing countries by doubling funding for biodiversity and pledging an additional €4 billion for climate finance until 2027 to support their green transition.
Speaking about foreign and security policy, she called for a European Cyber Defence Policy and a new European Cyber Resilience Act and announced a summit on European defence to be held under the French Presidency.