Green Deal, inflation, Ukraine… The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, defended her results on Wednesday September 13 in front of MEPs in Strasbourg, during the last speech on the State of the Union before the European elections organized in June 2024.
While political maneuvering has begun in view of the European elections and Ursula von der Leyen has neither expressed nor denied a desire to exercise a new mandate as President of the Commission, the Christian Democrat has endeavored to recapitulate the key issues and the action of the European institutions since taking office at the end of December 2019.
She also announced the opening of an investigation into Chinese public subsidies for electric automobiles to defend European industry in the face of “artificially low prices”.
Commission President underlined her desire to “stay the course” on the European Green Deal while ensuring “a fair and just transition”, as European Union (EU) environmental regulations face resistance increasing.
“We will continue to support European industry throughout this transition. We started with a package of measures – from the regulation for a “net zero” industry to the regulation on critical raw materials,” she detailed. She also announced a series of future measures in favor of wind energy, emphasizing the need to accelerate the issuance of permits.
The German Christian Democratic leader also wanted to “pay tribute” to the farmers, recognizing that they “are subject to the growing impact, on their work and their income, of Russian aggression against Ukraine [and] climate change, with the droughts, fires and floods it causes.”
The EU has adopted a large part of the Green Deal, an ambitious plan aimed at slashing the bloc’s carbon emissions, made a priority by the Commission. But the latter remains unfinished: thirty-seven texts remain under negotiation, some of which – “restoration of nature”, regulation of pesticides, etc. – arouse opposition from the right and the extreme right, who denounce a regulatory “burden” imposed on farmers and businesses.
Ursula von der Leyen acknowledged that returning to the 2% inflation target in the euro zone “will take time”, seeing “the persistence of high inflation” as a “great economic challenge” for the continent .
“Christine Lagarde and the European Central Bank [ECB] are working tirelessly to curb inflation,” she welcomed, on the eve of an expected decision on a maintenance or further increase in interest rates. monetary institution. The annual inflation rate in the twenty eurozone countries stood at 5.3% in August, after reaching 10.6% in October 2022.
But the rise in consumer prices still remains well above the medium-term target of 2% set by the ECB. And the ebb promises to be slow and difficult. The European Commission announced on Monday that it still forecast an annual inflation rate of 2.9% in 2024.
Ms von der Leyen welcomed the fall in gas prices in Europe, since the highest levels reached last year. It went from 300 euros per megawatt hour a year ago to “around 35 euros” today, she stressed, seeing it as the success of the European policy of joint purchasing, demand reduction and support for renewable energies.
“Many thought we wouldn’t have enough energy to get through the winter. But we succeeded,” she said, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of “deliberately using gas as a weapon.”
Unlike his previous State of the Union address, the Ukraine issue did not take center stage in his address. Ukraine has made “great strides” towards joining the European Union. Faced with this progress, “it is now time to rise to the height of this determination,” she declared to MEPs.
Brussels must present its recommendations in the fall on the opening of accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. Five Western Balkan countries are also candidates for membership, some of which have been negotiating with the EU for a decade.
“We cannot, we should not, wait to modify the treaties to move forward on the path to enlargement,” stressed Ms. von der Leyen, calling for “more quickly to adapt the Union,” its institutions and its budget. , but refraining from setting any timetable, contrary to the wishes of Charles Michel, President of the European Council, who believes that, “if we want to be credible, we must talk about timetables”.