This morning @vonderleyen will give her first "State of the Union" speech to the European Parliament.
Admittedly, even as an EU nerd I have yet to get attached to the tradition. I would struggle to name a single #SOTEU speech that made a lasting impact.
Could this year be different? Expect a positive outlook after a difficult year, with a focus on Green Deal, digitalisation, the EU coming together over the recovery fund, migration and a touch on European strategic autonomy.
#Brexit will likely not be a major issue, besides a call to the UK to keep its commitments and a declaration of willingness to strike a strong partnership.
Full #SOTEU speech is now online for those who want to focus only on specific bits:
ec.europa.eu/commission/pre…
As epxected it was (too?) long speech touching upon very many ambitions, but to me lacked a clear narrative and the specifics I would expect from a programmatic speech.
On #Brexit - @vonderleyen did not mention the word, but expectedly put the emphasis on the need for the UK to respect its commitments in the Withdrawal Agreement.
She stressed the support for Barnier and the clicking tock, but the next move clearly needs to come from the UK.
@vonderleyen More noteworthy was that she mentioned the 'Conference on the Future of Europe' only once - in the beginning in regards to EU competences in Health.
Although she initially proposed it, neither she nor the Commission seems to want ownership of #CoFoE anymore.
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