Juncker’s speech on the State of the Union
The president of the European Commission gave his annual speech to the European Parliament on the key challenges that the European Union is facing.
The State of the Union annual speech gives the opportunity to the President of the European Commission to explain to the European Parliament (and the wider public) what the executive branch of the EU has done in the past year and where it intends to go. This year’s speech was particularly awaited as it was this Commission’s at a time when the EU is at a crossroads.
Energy and climate topics were dealt very briefly near the end of his 80 minute speech, where other salient issues where much more prominent. He warned that there is a serious climate emergency and refuges may soon start coming to Europe. While Juncker said that the Commission support’s Europe’s efforts in Paris, he did not talk about how he intended to do that. Without giving any specifics, he concluded that the EU should sign an international deal which is “ambitious, robust and binding”.
