The State of the Union address, also known as the State of the European Union or SOTEU, is the annual speech addressed by the

President of the European Commission The president of the European Commission, also known as president of the College of Commissioners is the Head of government, head of the European Commission, the Executive (government), executive branch of the European Union (EU). The president ...

to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

plenary session in September. The State of the Union address of the European Union was instituted by the

Lisbon Treaty The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is a European agreement that amends the two Treaty, treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by all Member stat ...

(with the 2010 Framework Agreement on relations between the European Parliament and the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

- Annex IV(5)), in order to make political life of the Union more democratic and transparent than it previously had been. The Framework Agreement thus also foresees that the President of the European Commission sends a letter of intent to the

President of the European Parliament The president of the European Parliament presides over the debates and activities of the European Parliament. They also represent the Parliament within the European Union (EU) and internationally. The president's signature is required for Euro ...

and the Presidency of the Council of the European Union that sets out in detail the actions the European Commission intends to take by means of legislation and other initiatives until the end of the following year. The address is then followed by a plenary debate European Commission
State of the Union 2021
accessed 25 August 2021 on the political situation of the Union, the so-called State of the Union debate.

History

José Manuel Barroso

The first State of the Union speech of the European Union was pronounced on 7 September 2010 by President

José Manuel Barroso José Manuel Durão Barroso (; born 23 March 1956) is a Portuguese politician and law professor. He previously served from 2002 to 2004 as the List of Prime Ministers of Portugal, 114th prime minister of Portugal and from 2004–2014 as the 11 ...

. There he dealt mainly with the economic situation and unemployment issues; In Barroso's second address, on 28 September 2011, he called for a

eurozone The euro area, commonly called the eurozone (EZ), is a Monetary union, currency union of 20 Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (Euro sign, €) as their primary currency ...

bond and a financial transactions tax to stem the eurozone crisis and came out against the Franco-German proposal for an intergovernmental economic eurozone government - stating that that role belonged to the Commission; In Barroso's third address, on 12 September 2012, he called for a "decisive deal to complete the EMU", by which he meant a new European treaty to "move towards a Federation of nation states", ahead of the European Parliamentary election in 2014. He also acknowledged the need for "a serious discussion between the citizens of Europe about the way forward", calling in particular on all pro-European forces to be mobilised against the anti-European agenda of "the populists and the nationalists".

Jean-Claude Juncker

9 September 2015 marked the first address held by

Jean-Claude Juncker Jean-Claude Juncker (; born 9 December 1954) is a Luxembourgish politician who was List of prime ministers of Luxembourg, prime minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013 and president of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. He also was List ...

. It was titled "Time for honesty, unity and solidarity" and opened with the "imperative to act as a union" in order to address the

refugee crisis A refugee crisis can refer to difficulties and/or dangerous situations in the reception of large groups of refugees. These could be Forced displacement, forcibly displaced persons, internally displaced persons, asylum seekers or any other huge ...

. Juncker used his 2017 State of the Union address to call for "a stronger single market". Juncker’s 2018 speech was titled “The hour of European sovereignty”.

Ursula von der Leyen

In 2020, on

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

, Ursula von der Leyen restated the withdrawal agreement is an agreed and ratified divorce agreement: Her 2021 address has been delivered on 15 September 2021:

References

External links