European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s first State of the Union address covered a wide range of topics that should have a profound economic, environmental and geopolitical impact on the EU.
There was actually little that is new in what was said. So, how convincing is the political rhetoric of the State of the Union address?
As is to be expected, the lessons being learnt from the once-in-a-century medical crisis were one of the main topics addressed by von der Leyen. The less than ideal coordination between member states should in future be avoided with the setting up of a European health union. The proposed EU4Health programme, if adequately funded, should make the Union’s health systems more future-proof.
Some issues are likely to be of more relevance to Malta than others. The most significant is probably von der Leyen’s declaration that European values, including golden passports, are not for sale.
While Malta was not singled out as a target for this objective, it is time the government acknowledges that selling EU citizenship has done more harm than good to Malta’s reputation. This country’s insistence that the EU should not interfere with citizenship management of member states will only increase the perception that it has little respect for European values and is only interested in boosting its economy, to say nothing of the risks it is seen to be posing to the Union in terms of security, money laundering, tax evasion and corruption.
The Commission is not going to take this lying down. It is examining whether the scheme breaches EU law and will take concrete legal action against the country should it find non-compliance.
Von der Leyen’s prioritisation of initiatives to promote the green economy was generally welcomed by MEPs and environmental organisations. Establishing more stringent targets to cut emissions in the next 10 years will be a daunting challenge for all member states. It will be even more so for Malta which has for long given little importance to the proper management of the environment.
The Greens/European Free alliance urged the Commission president to put public money to uphold EU values, citing the alleged rule of law infringements in Hungary and Poland. Malta was not included in the list of countries that have problems with upholding the rule of law. But it would indeed be short-sighted if the government believes that it has done enough to re-establish Malta’s reputation as a country that fully respects rule-of-law principles at all times.
An issue that should favour a fairer treatment for Malta is that of migration. Von der Leyen’s commitment towards a new pact on migration is indeed welcome. The prime minister’s comment, that what Malta needs is not more money but more burden-sharing to ease the migration challenge, is sound. It is also in line with von der Leyen’s declaration that “migration is a European challenge and all of Europe must do its part”.
The State of the Union address received mixed reactions. What the Commission president said was as relevant as what she did not say. Guy Verhofstadt of the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament challenged her “to take her speech to the European Council”, claiming that half of the issues she raised were blocked by national leaders.
As long as the governance of the EU remains hostage to the prioritisation of national rather than Union interests, well-meaning declarations of intent on EU transformational reform will not amount to much more than pious intentions.
Only time will tell whether this time around concrete actions will match the political eloquence.