In her State of the Union address today, Ursula von der Leyen distanced herself from Manfred Weber’s (CSU/EPP) flirtation with the far right. She turned to the political centre and opened herself up to demands from the Greens and Social Democrats. The Commission President is prepared to sanction Israel for the war in Gaza, calls the future of the car electric and wants to propose a plan for housing construction. Von der Leyen responded to the loudmouths from the far right who repeatedly interrupted her speech by saying that she would provide funding for local, independent media to strengthen Europe’s democracies against disinformation. This was a clear message to the far right, but also to Weber, whose conservatives repeatedly collaborate with right-wing factions.

Von der Leyen also addressed the issue of the rule of law. However, she did not announce any concrete measures to stop the escalating crisis of the rule of law under Orbán in Hungary and Fico in Slovakia.

The Commission President also called for reform of the EU decision-making process. She said it was important to be able to make certain decisions – for example in foreign policy – more quickly, without having to rely on unanimity among EU Member States. Von der Leyen has been calling for something similar for six years – without any concrete initiative.

Daniel Freund, Green coordinator in the Committee on Budgetary Control, comments:

“I am glad that Von der Leyen also spoke about the rule of law in her speech. But words alone will not stop Orbán or Fico. Billions of euros from the EU are still flowing to these autocrats. Ursula von der Leyen must initiate the freezing of all funds for Orbán. As long as the press and courts in Hungary are not free, no EU money should flow there. Fico must also be stopped with EU sanctions. Copying Orbán’s strategy has already earned him an invitation to the autocrat summit in Beijing, alongside Xi, Putin and Kim Jong-un.”

“Von der Leyen has stated for the sixth time how important she considers the European Parliament’s right of initiative to be. However, she has not mentioned what she is actually doing to achieve this. Urgently needed treaty changes to overcome unanimity hurdles in foreign policy require genuine initiative on her part, not just warm words. Only a united Europe can stand up to Putin and prevent Trump from sidelining it.” 

Watch the full State of the European Union speech here.