Just the Facts | State of the Union Address 2026

President von der Leyen identified the climate crisis as a key “tipping point” of our time: Europe’s future prosperity and security largely depend on how it is managed. Following the hottest summer on record, von der Leyen emphasised the importance of both climate mitigation and adaptation, of a holistic approach to resilience and preparedness, and reaffirmed the commitment to meeting Europe’s climate targets. She also outlined a number of new proposals, including a European Heatwave Plan, a European Water initiative and a Climate Insurance Alliance.  

However, no detail was provided on the urgent action needed to follow through on existing commitments, or on how to ensure the Commission’s focus on simplification does not come at the cost of social and environmental protection. In response, civil society groups at EU level called for greater emphasis on tackling the root causes of climate change, rather than focusing predominantly on the market opportunities associated with climate adaptation.  

Von der Leyen called for greater energy security and independence, industrial competitiveness, and a transition to a clean energy mix. The EU Electrification Action Plan, presented in July 2026, will play a role here, with an indicative electrification target of 46% by 2040.  

Referring to AI as the “second tipping point of our times”, von der Leyen acknowledged the need to take the risks seriously. She highlighted the EU’s AI Act as crucial to putting guardrails in place and emphasised the need for cooperation with like-minded partners such as Canada and the UK on evaluating AI models, verification, early warning and AI security. The European Commission plans to announce new AI initiatives in November across five sectors: health, transport, agri-food, advanced manufacturing, and defence and space.  

The Commission President advocated AI that creates “more value, more responsibly”, at a lower cost, with less energy consumption and human agency. To ensure that AI helps to develop skills and improve job quality, rather than being a barrier to employment, the Commission plans to put forward a Quality Jobs Act by the end of 2026. However, nothing was said about the resource-consuming infrastructure behind AI, nor about the training data for AI, which is often sourced without the consent or compensation of its authors and creators.  

Von der Leyen spoke on taking back power from big tech corporations, stressing that “it is we who decide our rules, not big tech”. The Commission also plans to present a Digital Fairness Act in autumn. Von der Leyen particularly highlighted the harms of addictive design and the risks for minors. As expected, she used the SOTEU speech to announce a new KIDS Act. This would see the introduction of a ban on social media for under-13s, with heavily restricted and parent-supervised accounts for 13 to 15-year-olds, alongside new obligations on platforms to prove they are safe for children. This proposal has been generally received positively, with digital safety and children’s rights experts welcoming the fact that the proposal goes beyond age restrictions and shifts responsibility onto technology companies to design services with children’s safety in mind. 

Von der Leyen reiterated commitment to the European Pillar of Social Rights and announced plans to host a summit to uphold the principles of the Social Pillar together with the Council of the EU. Emphasising that being able to stay in one’s own region and accessing care and housing are not privileges, but rights, von der Leyen promised investment in regions and pointed to the new Affordable Housing Act. In the context of increasing challenges to fundamental rights, she also placed particular importance on gender equality and women’s rights. While this was welcome, the European Anti-Poverty Network criticised the lack of mention of poverty or of excluded and marginalised communities affected by poverty. Political commitment and adequate funding are needed to ensure that social rights are recognised as “fundamental to Europe’s future”, EAPN stressed.

On migration, referring to events in Ceuta, President von der Leyen emphasised the need for Europe to act together. She announced plans to establish a “European Emergency Response Framework” to deal flexibly with situations where large-scale migration movements are “engineered and weaponised” by external actors – while respecting values and fundamental rights. In practice, however, such a tool could potentially permit derogations from core protections enshrined in EU and international law, such as the right to seek asylum.  

Von der Leyen did not mention the breaches of Schengen law over the summer, when Italy imposed border controls with Spain, but only spoke of “defend[ing] the freedoms of our Schengen area”. The Commission President framed her points on migration through the lens of security and externalisation. Her main focus was on protecting Europe’s external borders, with a strengthened mandate for Frontex – “especially to speed up returns”. She called for the full implementation of the Pact on Migration and Asylum and also announced a new Mediterranean Youth Skills and Jobs initiative to help tackle the root causes of irregular migration.   

The word “competitiveness” didn’t feature once in the speech; von der Leyen namechecked several initiatives in this area and passed the responsibility over to Member States for their implementation, for example the One Europe, One Market Roadmap. She warned that “simplification cannot be a one-way street” and spoke of the need for a proposal for a “pact against gold-plating” to prevent member states from implementing EU law beyond the required level.  

Affordable energy, investment and innovation are important for competitiveness, but this could all be undermined by the lack of a level playing field with China, the Commission President warned. She described the EU’s trade deficit with China, which has now reached €1 billion a day, as reaching a “tipping point”, with the visible consequence of deindustrialisation in Europe. At the same time, she noted that due to weaker domestic demand, China needs the European market – “so it is in both our interests to work together to find solutions”.  

Von der Leyen stated that while the EU has various instruments in place and is strengthening cooperation with NATO, the EU’s “doctrine, our institutions and our decision-making have not kept pace with the new reality”. She previewed some elements of the European Security Strategy, expected in early October 2026, which reflect a potentially expanded role of the European Commission in security and defence. 

The Commission President also announced the launch of a new European Security Council, although she did not specify how this would operate in practice. EU Defence Commissioner Kubilius had previously suggested that such a format could potentially include non-EU countries such as the UK, Norway, Canada and Ukraine to discuss shared threats. 

On the Occupied Palestinian Territories, President von der Leyen condemned Israel’s E1 settlement plans in the West Bank as “unacceptable” and reaffirmed support for a two-state solution. However, she failed to table any concrete actions or meaningful commitments by the EU, despite longstanding calls for the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and action to ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements. The Commission President described the inability of member states to form the necessary majorities for a unified response as “painful for many Europeans”, noting that some members have already moved ahead unilaterally, while others are considering doing so. However, this overlooks the Commission’s failure to show leadership and to ensure that all EU policies, including those on trade, comply with international law. This lack of action at EU level has significantly undermined the EU’s reputation and credibility as a champion of international law.  

The next long-term EU budget, the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), was mentioned only briefly: President von der Leyen emphasised that “our budget is about our future. And any modern budget needs new own resources.” In this way, she called for a sufficiently large budget to tackle the growing challenges. She also made a clear link between EU funds and rule of law, underlining that respecting the rule of law and fundamental rights has to be “front and centre in” the next MFF. Member states hope to finalise overall budget negotiations by the end of this year.