On 13 September, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gave the annual State of the European Union address to the European Parliament.
As with the State of the Nation Address by the President of the Philippines, this speech is the occasion to evaluate the achievements of the European Union of the past year and to lay out the plans and initiatives for the years to come. This is not only important for Europeans: Europe is solidly integrated in the global and multilateral structures and European policies often have global significance.
As I am trying to show with this very specific example, many policies of the European Union have a positive impact on other countries like the Philippines as well. President von der Leyen specifically referred to the Philippines in her speech as an example where the partnership framework of the European Union, Global Gateway, will contribute to the country’s ambition to enhance its digital economy.
President von der Leyen also mentioned in her speech that Europe would like to step up on its economic security by de-risking the European economy. Concretely, this means that the European Union would like to ensure that it has a sufficiently diverse and sustainable supply chain for products used in the European market. In this context, the EU President announced that the EU would convene the first meeting of the new Critical Raw Materials Club later this year.