The State of the European Union speech is an annual speech by the President of the European Commission to the European Parliament, aimed at defining the Union’s priorities for the coming year. The President of the European Commission Ursula Von Der Leyn in her speech on 16 September defined the European Union as “stronger than ever”, although it may also appear “more precarious than ever”. The European Union it wants to reduce its strategic dependencies and transform the economic weight of the single market into a greater capacity to act autonomously, and in recent days there has been talk of Canada’s possible entry as an associate member. Let’s analyze together what were the main macro-themes addressed and the current challenges for the Member States – while you can find the complete video here.
Energy limit problem: double electricity by 2040
One of the central points and priorities of the European Union is energy: after the drastic reduction in gas imports from Russia, the European Union has diversified its supplies and increased the production of renewable and nuclear energy. But for President Von der Leyen the problem is not solved: European energy remains expensive and this represents a limit to the competitiveness of the industry.
The proposal is a greater electrification of the economy: according to estimates cited by the Commission, doubling the share of electricity by 2040 could reduce European spending on fossil fuel imports by around 260 billion euros a year. However, there is a less visible problem: the electricity grid: in 2025 Europe would have installed over 80 GW of new renewable capacity, but an amount of capacity approximately six times higher than that installed in the year would still be waiting to be connected to the grid. The challenge is therefore not only to produce clean energy, but transport it and make it available when needed. The Commission intends to intervene by accelerating authorizations and investments in networks.
Dependence on China: the raw materials issue
Another big theme is industrial dependence on China. Von der Leyen defined the current trade imbalance as unsustainable: according to the data cited in the speech, the EU’s deficit towards China is equivalent to around one billion euros a day. The problem is not just what Europe imports, but also How much they are concentrate someone supply chains.
The Commission indicates a dependence on China of more than 80% for many critical raw materials and up to 90% for some rare earths. These materials are fundamental to very different technologies: batteries, electric vehicles, semiconductors, energy systems and defense applications. This is why Brussels wants to create a new European structure dedicated to strategic raw materials, with the aim of diversifying supplies and building reserves: it is a significant change compared to traditional economic logic. For years globalization has favored above all efficiency and low costs, but now it is introducing another variable, namely the resilience of production chains. For example, a slightly more expensive raw material can become strategically convenient if it avoids an entire supply chain being dependent on a single country.
The new European strategy for defense and security
The war in Ukraine has highlighted another European dependence: that of the military capabilities of its allies, especially in the most expensive and technologically complex sectors. In her speech, President Von der Leyen proposed a new European security strategy and a consultation mechanism similar in logic to Article 4 of NATO.
The idea is to be able to coordinate a European response even to threats that do not yet constitute a direct military attack: drones, sabotage, cyberattacks and other forms of hybrid warfare. The Commission also wants to strengthen capabilities defined as “strategic enablers”: air and missile defense, strategic transport, in-flight refueling, space and cybersecurity. The point is not only to increase military spending, but to develop capabilities that require enormous investments and that each state can hardly build independently. European defense is therefore increasingly presented as a problem of industrial coordination And technologicalas well as military.
Artificial intelligence: safety and the ability to use it correctly are at the center
Another priority is artificial intelligence. The European strategy is also to develop European computing capabilities, infrastructure and industrial applications, using AI in sectors where Europe already has expertise: healthcare, transport, agriculture, manufacturing, defense and space. At the same time, Brussels wants to continue to intervene on the safety of artificial intelligence and the risks of the most advanced models. The challenge for the EU, therefore, is to be able to do both without regulation increasing costs too much for European businesses or, conversely, the search for competitiveness reducing the ability to control risks.
A climate that has now changed: what does adaptation consist of
Climate change occupies a significant space in the discourse, but with a different emphasis compared to the Green Deal years. Von der Leyen called summer 2026 the “summer of truth”, citing the 660,000 hectares burned by fires, the approximately 12 million tonnes of lost crops and the over 35,000 deaths associated with heat waves. The message is that climate policy can no longer just be about reducing emissions: it must also deal with adaptation, namely city protection, water management, agriculture, fire prevention, infrastructure and health systems. Mitigation seeks to limit future warming by reducing emissions, while adaptation seeks to reduce the damage done by a climate that has already changed and will continue to change.
A more integrated and strong Europe even outside the EU
Among the most surprising proposals is the one relating to Canada: Von der Leyen has opened up the possibility of it becoming the first “associate member” of the European Union, a formula which at the moment does not correspond to real membership and whose institutional details have yet to be defined. The goal would be to build much closer cooperation on technology, energy, defense, the Arctic, critical raw materials, batteries, artificial intelligence and economic security. It is a proposal that fits into the same logic as the other initiatives in the discussion: if the world becomes more competitive and fragmented, Europe tries to increase one’s ability to cooperate with partners considered strategic without necessarily integrating them into the Union.
No social media for children under 13
Among the most relevant proposals for European citizens is the EU Kids Act: the Commission has proposed a limit of 13 years for access to social media, 15 years for personal accounts and greater safety and platform design obligations for teenagers. It is a sector in which the scientific debate is particularly complex: the association between the use of social media, sleep, mental health and risky behavior is documented in numerous studies, but establishing a causal relationship with the use of social media is much more difficult. The problem therefore concerns not only the time spent online, but also the type of content, the methods of use and the individual characteristics of users.
The state of the art: a Europe seeking autonomy
Looking at the entire discussion, a common strategy emerges behind apparently very different themes. The question is how much can it be Europe is autonomous in a world in which the economic dependencies they can quickly turn into strategic vulnerabilities? Among all the topics mentioned, some already include ongoing programs, others will still have to be transformed into legislative proposals, financing or agreements between Member States. And this is precisely the main unknown: the speech defines a direction, but its effectiveness will depend on the ability of the 27 member countries to finance and concretely implement these policies. The State of the Union described by von der Leyen, therefore, is not that of a European Union which is simply trying to return to the situation prior to the crises of recent years, but which is attempting to adapt to a new international environment, in which energy, technology, industry, climate and security they are increasingly intertwined. The question for the next few years will be to understand whether this greater autonomy will remain above all a political objective or will be able to transform itself into concrete industrial, energy and strategic capacity and above all common and uniform to all member states.
