European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will deliver a State of the Union address in Strasbourg on Wednesday, where she will defend her balance sheet led by the Green Deal, even as the latter remains unfinished and a source of tension. AFP and Agerpres comment less than a year before the elections to the European Parliament.

Political maneuvering has begun in view of elections in June 2024 that will lead to major changes at the top of EU institutions, and rumors are rife that Germany’s conservative leader wants a new five-year mandate.

In her annual speech to MEPs gathered in plenary, Ursula von der Leyen would insist on her actions no less than on the problems facing the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis or the regulation of digital giants. the end of its term.

A key topic where his words will be carefully analyzed: EU enlargement.

The commission is to present its recommendations in the fall regarding the opening of accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, which received candidate status in June 2022. Five countries from the Western Balkans are also candidates for accession, some of which have been negotiating with the EU for ten years. .

Returning from vacation, European Council President Charles Michel said that the EU should be ready to integrate new members “by 2030.” “If we want to be credible, we have to talk about the calendar,” he insisted.

Ursula von der Leyen supports the need to prepare the EU for enlargement, but without setting a deadline: “Trust is guaranteed through a technical process, the president believes it is important to preserve it,” the European official emphasized.

Overall, Ursula von der Leyen can boast that she has implemented a large part of the ambitious Green Deal aimed at reducing carbon emissions in the EU.

But the latter remains unfinished: 37 texts remain under discussion, some of which – “nature restoration”, pesticide control – are opposed by their own political family, the EPP (right), which calls for a “pause” in environmental legislation and condemns the “burden » regulation placed on farmers and companies.

The source of “Euroscepticism” worries even the President of the Parliament, Robert Metsol (EPP), against the background of the rise of the extreme right in Europe. “Competitiveness, less bureaucracy and more trade are priorities,” said EPP leader Manfred Weber.

Some see President von der Leyen’s recent support for revising the status of the wolf as a protected species as a signal to the rural world and her own party.

“We are moving from legislative development to the implementation phase,” demanding “greater dialogue” with citizens and businesses, the quoted EU official added.

The head of the parliamentary environment committee, Pascal Canfin (Renew, Liberals), expects Ursula von der Leyen to “reaffirm the ambitions of the Green Deal”, especially on climate change, three months before COP28 and, as Brussels will set, by the spring, the 2040 target on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, “a key moment to continue demonstrating its ambitions.”

Ursula von der Leyen “considers it, but must take into account the fact that we are entering a difficult part of the ecological transition, when a certain number of participants, starting with the EPP, say: +let’s not go too fast, not too far+”, – he expressed his concern.

“We urge her not to abandon the ambitions set at the beginning of her mandate” in the face of “political forces that insist on the status quo,” added Social Democrat President Irache García Pérez, in unison with the Greens. .

Among the documents that remain finalized, the reform of the electricity market and European budget rules are the subject of heated negotiations.

First of all, the complex reform of the migration policy is causing complex discussions against the background of pressure on the reception capacities due to the increase in the number of asylum requests.

Ursula von der Leyen will appeal to MEPs and states to step up their efforts to finalize the text. She also hopes that the protocol of the “strategic partnership” agreement concluded in July with Tunisia will become a model for future agreements with the countries of the region.

President von der Leyen’s speech comes as her Commission recently lost two iconic figures: Frans Timmermans, the architect of the Green Deal and now a candidate for Dutch Prime Minister, and Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who is running for chair . European Investment Bank.