Every year, on the 15th of September, the President of the European Commission (currently Ursula Von der Leyen), holds a speech about the achievements from the past year and the proposals for the year ahead.
Key points:
- “I’m proposing a new health, preparedness and resilience mission for the whole of the EU and it should be backed up by Team Europe investment with 50 billion by 2027”. The main aim of this mission is “to make sure that no virus will ever turn a local epidemic again into a global pandemic.”
- “The aim is to jointly create a state of the art European chip ecosystem including production and insurance, our security of supply and will develop new markets for groundbreaking European tech.” The global shortage of semiconductors has become a pain point for the notion of strategic autonomy, as the chip market is dominated by Asian and American companies.
- 2022 as the ‘Year of European Youth’, saying the future belongs to the young, who need to see the EU as a “collective project to reflect their future”. As part of this, a new programme for young people – ALMA- offering them temporary work experience in other member states.
- European Cyber Resilience Act, new legislation that will set common standards as part of the European defence policy.
- European Defence Summit in the first half of 2022, during the French presidency of the Council of the EU.
- After increasing pressure signalling the EU needs to show more support for its six Western Balkan neighbours, Von der Leyen announced a road trip.
- Ban on products on the European market made with forced labour.
- The Commission set the bar that at least 80% of the European population should have basic digital skills.
- Media Protection Act, a recommendation on strengthening the protection of journalists.
