To love Europe, is it love its nations. To love your nation is to love Europe. Patriotism is a virtue. Unchecked nationalism is riddled with both poison and deceit. In short, we must remain true to ourselves. Jean Claude Juncker

Jean Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, has delivered his annual State of the Union address, the last of his mandate.

The State of the Union speech outlines the direction of the future work of the Commission is one of the most important moments of the year, as far as European affairs are concerned.

As expected, Jean Claude Juncker discussed current issues such as the immigration crisis and Brexit, but he also remarked on some long-term problems that afflict the European institutions.

State of the Union address 2018: Juncker’s legacy

This year’s State of the Union speech is peculiar, being the last one of Juncker’s mandate. It is meant to provide a long-term direction and to summarise his legacy and the results achieved in the last four years. As a matter of fact, the speech started with a review of the ever-growing role of the European Union as a global player and the achievements of the past four years in terms of growth and occupation. Then, it addressed the topic of immigration with a focus on its relationship with Africa. Finally, Juncker discussed internal weaknesses of the European Union as a system, such as the need to improve efficiency of decision making and to defend its core democratic values. It is also worth mentioning the digital single market and Brexit, which appeared both in the speech and in the reactions by MEPs.

European Union as a global power

Juncker’s speech highlighted how Europe is one of the biggest single market and thanks to that it can influence its neighbours and partners. He listed environmental policies and commercial treaties among its most important responsibilities at global level, but also peacekeeping and development. The President also advocated multilateralism as opposed to “selfish unilateralism”. To succeed in a dynamic and unstable world, Juncker suggests that the European Union must have a unified voice and overcome its internal divisions.

Immigration and borders

Juncker advocated for a solution to the immigration issue through a more efficiency-oriented solidarity among states and partnership with Africa. The partnership with African countries should be fair and reciprocal, acoording to the President, who proposed an Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs between Europe and Africa which would help create up to 10 million jobs in Africa in the next 5 years. He also proposed to help African student through the Erasmus programme, supporting 35k students by 2020 and up to 105k students by 2027.

He also confirmed his stance on the importance of a borderless Schengen area and on external border control. In fact, he promised further development of the European Asylum Agency and an increase of 10k European border guards by 2020.

Need for quicker decision-making

President Juncker was somewhat critical of several internal weaknesses of the European institutions, especially the need for a unanimity vote for certain matters. He argued that a qualified majority would be sufficient on matters of taxation and foreign policies, in which the European Union has been traditionally stagnant, regardless of the changes in the international panorama.

Juncker has also set the informal meeting of Sibiu (Romania), on the 9th of May, as the deadline to settle the last pressing issues before the elections. Among others: the EU-Japan partnership agreement, the EU budget after 2020, the budget for the Erasmus programme, funding for research and entrepreneurship, the increase of defence spending.

Finally, Juncker suggested that there is a need for completing the Economic and Monetary Union to make Europe and the euro stronger on the international scene.

Protection of democracy

The last part of Juncker’s speech addressed European democratic values such as the rule of law and protection of European elections. The former is a clear reference to the vote on the infringment procedure towards Hungary that took place on the same day.

He also mentioned the need for Europe to better protect its journalists, as a guarantee of democracy. For the same reason, he expressed his desire to see a repetition of the Spitzenkandidaten process for the European elections, which is, in his opinion, a “small step forward for European democracy”. He also suggested that such system would be even more credible with transnational lists.

Download the full SOTEU transcript

A few years ago, standing in this very same spot, I told you that Europe was the love of my life. I love Europe still and shall do so forever more. Jean Claude Juncker

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