The European Commission president will push a vision of the bloc that is handing momentum to the political opposition<\/p>\n
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will deliver her annual State of the Union address in Strasbourg on Wednesday. Here\u2019s what she won\u2019t tell you about the state of the EU \u2013 an increasingly militarized and authoritarian superstructure fighting to hold itself together.
\nThe speech is a relatively new tradition in EU history, with the first formal State of the Union address given by former President Jose Manuel Barroso in 2010. The 2009 Lisbon Treaty dramatically expanded the powers of the commission \u2013 creating a foreign policy department under its control and granting it exclusive rights to propose common migration and energy legislation \u2013 and the speech resembles the more widely-known American State of the Union address: a powerful executive setting out their agenda for the coming year.
\nVon der Leyen\u2019s office has said that this year\u2019s speech will focus on the bloc\u2019s successes in economic competitiveness, trade, foreign relations, defense, and \u201cunwavering support\u201d for Ukraine. Behind these talking points, here\u2019s what she\u2019ll leave out.<\/p>\n
State of the Union preparations – SOTEU, for short – are now in full swing.I am now meeting with the Conference of Presidents at @Europarl_EN.Because SOTEU is woven from many threads.I will see you all in Strasbourg on 16 September.I’m very much looking forward to it. pic.twitter.com\/9p3nCRh75b\u2014 Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) September 9, 2026 <\/p>\n
An authoritarian and centralized union
\nBoth the European Commission and von der Leyen herself significantly consolidated their power in 2026. Von der Leyen began by appointing 26 commissioners without running the list past the European Parliament first, and deliberately withholding budget and internal market strategy documents from member states until hours before publication, making deliberation impossible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Von der Leyen seeking to tighten grip on EU foreign policy \u2013 Politico<\/p>\n
The bloc\u2019s chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas, has been sidelined by von der Leyen, with the commission president pushing for the creation of a new intelligence agency answering to her office, and reportedly planning to strip Kallas\u2019 diplomatic service of key foreign policy functions. France and Germany have also reportedly backed moves to downsize the influence of Kallas, who is increasingly seen as a destructive diplomatic influence.
\nThe commission also tightened its grip on immigration policy when the Migration and Asylum Pact became active in June. Now, for the first time in the bloc\u2019s history, the European Commission can order member states to accept migrants arriving in other states, or pay a financial penalty instead.
\nThe Ukraine money pit
\nVon der Leyen\u2019s plan to use \u20ac210 billion worth of frozen Russian assets to finance a loan for Ukraine may have failed, but the commission president will likely use her speech to champion her \u2018Plan B\u2019 \u2013 a \u20ac90 billion ($104 billion) debt-financed loan for Kiev, around \u20ac10 billion of which has already been disbursed. However, Ukraine has already blown its entire 2026 defense budget on its summer drone campaign against Russian civilian targets, leaving a $27 billion gap in its finances.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Ukraine is running out of money again \u2013 and the EU is asking questions<\/p>\n
Behind closed doors, some EU officials have proposed advancing Ukraine the 2027 portion of the \u20ac90 billion loan, while the bloc\u2019s diplomats have been left \u201csurprised and unsettled\u201d at the speed with which Kiev burned through the money, according to the New York Times.
\nIt is unclear whether Von der Leyen will attempt to revive her original asset confiscation plan, given it deeply divided member states during heated late-night talks in December 2025. But even if she does, the implosion of Vladimir Zelensky\u2019s regime in Kiev under the weight of its own corruption should further dampen enthusiasm for the scheme.
\nAs RT covered in depth in our \u2018State of Corruption\u2019 series, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky\u2019s cronies have been implicated in plots to loot the country\u2019s ministries, launder millions to bail out corrupt officials, run vote-buying rings in parliament, and pump European money into a fly-by-night missile manufacturer used as a slush fund by Zelensky\u2019s former TV colleagues. With Kiev\u2019s Western-funded anti-corruption agencies and Zelensky\u2019s own chief prosecutor \u2013 who has since fled the country \u2013 accusing each other of graft schemes this week, any attempt to shovel more money into Ukraine will likely face fierce opposition from the EU\u2019s growing populist movements.
\nThe rise of the right
\nVon der Leyen\u2019s blank-check approach to Ukraine is bitterly opposed by Germany\u2019s right-wing AfD, which has been the country\u2019s most popular party since early 2025 and won a landslide victory in state elections in Saxony-Anhalt last week. The AfD has called for an end to \u201call war-prolonging support measures, in particular all weapons and military-equipment deliveries to Ukraine immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
In France, where presidential elections are just over six months away, right-wing candidate Marine Le Pen has entered the race with a 16-point lead over her nearest competitor, the left-wing Jean-Luc Melenchon. Although Le Pen\u2019s National Rally party is more pro-Ukraine than the AfD, Le Pen favors peace talks with Russia, and party vice-president Louis Aliot told reporters this week that she would \u201cturn off the tap\u201d on military aid to Kiev.
\nA right-wing shift in the EU\u2019s two most powerful member states presents a clear threat to von der Leyen\u2019s Ukraine project. To acknowledge this threat in her speech would be a projection of weakness, but readers of RT\u2019s European election coverage already know how the European Commission will handle the populist surge.
\nThe EU\u2019s repression machine
\nSaxony-Anhalt is due to receive \u20ac2.95 billion in EU funding before the end of next year. With the AfD now in power, that funding could soon be suspended if the party acts against \u201cthe European project,\u201d Green MEP Daniel Freund told German broadcaster ARD last week. It is unlikely that Freund was engaging in idle scaremongering: the commission has previously cut funding to Hungary and Poland over ideological clashes, with former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban describing the freeze as retaliation for his anti-migrant and anti-LBGT policies.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
German state could face EU fund freeze after AfD win \u2013 media<\/p>\n
In France, the commission will more than likely activate its so-called \u2018Rapid Response System\u2019 (RRS) ahead of next year\u2019s election. Once activated, this system allows commission-approved \u201cfact checkers\u201d to order social media platforms to remove content, under the auspices of protecting the election from \u201cinterference.\u201d The EU has activated this toolkit in every national election across the bloc since 2024, including France\u2019s legislative election that summer, and Hungary\u2019s parliamentary election this April.
\nAccording to documents released by the US House Judiciary Committee earlier this year, the RSS was almost always used \u201cto disadvantage conservative or populist political parties.\u201d Social media platforms were forced to comply or face legal penalties under the EU\u2019s Digital Services Act, which requires them to stop the spread of supposed \u201cdisinformation.\u201d
\nPyrrhic victories
\nDivision and authoritarianism don\u2019t make for inspiring speech material. Instead, von der Leyen will tout the EU\u2019s trade deals with India and the Mercosur nations, its 21 sanctions packages against Russia, its hiked defense spending, and its support for native technology and clean energy as victories.
\nThese wins, however, are pyrrhic at best. The Mercosur trade deal \u2013 which allows EU automakers to export more cars to Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, in exchange for the EU importing more of these countries\u2019 meat and agricultural products \u2013 stands to harm European farmers.\u00a0
\nThe bloc\u2019s sanctions packages have dealt more damage to EU economies than to Russia.\u00a0
\nGuns and money<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
EU committing \u2018harakiri\u2019 \u2013 Lavrov<\/p>\n
The EU is taking on more debt to finance its defense hikes; the SAFE instrument, for example, involves Brussels borrowing \u20ac150 billion to then loan to member states to procure weapons. Under the bloc\u2019s \u2018Readiness 2030\u2019 strategy, the commission is relaxing its deficit rules and allowing member states to borrow around \u20ac650 billion for rearmament, while the EU\u2019s much-vaunted \u2018drone wall\u2019 initiative is also partly financed by borrowing.\u00a0
\nThe EU\u2019s overreliance on debt extends beyond military programs. Brussels borrowed \u20ac750 billion to cover its \u2018NextGenerationEU\u2019 bailout package during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the debt is coming due right as the commission doubles down on borrowing for rearmament. The European Parliament estimates that \u20ac149.3 billion of the EU\u2019s 2028-2034 budget will be spent servicing \u2018NextGenerationEU\u2019 debt.
\nBrussels\u2019 transition to renewable energy, meanwhile, is more of a necessity than a choice: with Russian gas under embargo, supplies from the Middle East cratered by the US-Israeli war on Iran, and American substitutes expensive, natural gas prices across the bloc are now three times higher than they were in January, surpassing \u20ac83 per megawatt hour on September 14. Electricity prices remain almost 50% higher than they were in early 2022, making the EU an unappealing location for high-tech and heavy industry alike.
\nRegardless of how von der Leyen chooses her words, she will take the lectern in Strasbourg paradoxically at the height of her power, and at her most vulnerable to revolt. She leads the most potent institution of an overleveraged and overextended union, and whatever plans for the year she unveils, they will likely carry an air of urgency, if events in France and Germany are a portent of things to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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