State of the EU speech: Von der Leyen praises vaccination campaign

EU Commission President von der Leyen gave the vaccination campaign a consistently positive assessment. She also emphasized solidarity with poorer countries. What was exciting was what she didn’t talk about or only indirectly.

Ursula von der Leyen did not address Germany directly when she mentioned the successes of the vaccination campaign in her speech on the State of the European Union. The embassy nevertheless went to Berlin. The campaign must pick up speed, said the head of the Brussels Commission, otherwise a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” threatens.

Small peaks in the direction of Germany when it comes to the supply of vaccines. “In the biggest global health crisis in a century, we decided to stand together,” said the EU Commission chief. At the beginning of the Corona crisis, some German prime ministers still called for a national solo effort, saying that Germany was faster and more effective in negotiations with pharmaceutical companies.

“Europe is at the top of the world”

Today, a year and a half later, von der Leyen was able to announce that the EU is doing well in an international comparison. An average of 70 percent of the member states are vaccinated, so the EU is ahead of the USA and Great Britain in terms of vaccination speed – despite all the criticism of Brussels. The head of the commission did not want to resist the hint, this time again in the direction of Berlin: “Contrary to all critics: Europe is at the top of the world.”

The EU not only provided for its own citizens, but also showed solidarity with poorer countries. 700 million cans for the EU and the same amount exported again – only Europe shared half of its production with the rest of the world, according to von der Leyen.

Indirect criticism of Poland’s government

The foreign and security policy part of the State of the Union speech was eagerly awaited. Striking: Von der Leyen hardly spoke about the defeat in Afghanistan, she avoided harsh words about the debacle. Her main demand was to press ahead with the development of a European Defense Union. For this, however, no new units would have to be formed, they have been around for a long time. With a view to the member states, then a clear criticism: there is simply a lack of political will.

In the dispute over the rule of law, von der Leyen refrained from addressing Poland directly – but here, too, the announcement was clear. The EU would not accept political pressure on the courts; all people in Europe would have to be able to rely on equal treatment before the law. The situation in some member states is worrying. The Commission is still ready for dialogue, “but it must also lead to a goal”.

Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed herself more cautiously during her visit to Poland last week and placed the focus on the dialogue in the conflict over the Polish judicial reform. Von der Leyen seems to see this more critically. The Commission is still holding back the Corona aid funds for Poland and Hungary – because there are doubts about compliance with the rule of law.

Call for high-performance chip production

For the head of the Commission, one of the lessons from the Corona crisis is that the EU must become independent of Asian producers in the area of ​​high-performance chip production. “While global demand has exploded, Europe’s share of the entire value chain has decreased,” she criticized.

That is why the Commission wants to present a concept that brings together research and production in Europe. The Commission is supposed to coordinate EU investments. Smartphones and electric scooters, trains or entire factories – “no digital product without chips,” explained von der Leyen.

The first critical voices came from the Greens in the European Parliament. “Not a big hit,” explained Sven Giegold. “Von der Leyen talked for over an hour, but only spoke about the climate crisis for five minutes.” After the summer of crisis with floods, forest fires and heat waves, a wake-up call would have been a good thing, said Giegold. And in this way the head of the Commission should have made it clear to the national governments that more speed in the fight against the climate crisis is the order of the day.