This EPC Update
will take stock of European Commission President von der Leyen’s 2025 State of the Union address, delivered after the first year of her second mandate and a summer of faltering Commission diplomacy. With a productive EU–Japan summit as the lone bright spot, the season was marked by a fruitless EU–China summit and an EU–US trade deal that, while averting the worst of Washington’s tariff threats through significant concessions, has left deep political scars in Brussels.
Against this backdrop—and with criticism mounting in several capitals—will President von der Leyen use the address to set a decisive course and effectively tackle the most contentious items on the EU’s agenda? Can she chart a course to repair the damage from recent trade negotiations, define the way forward on Ukraine after the Trump-Putin summit, and signal a strong commitment to enlargement timelines for Ukraine, Moldova, and others?
Other pressing challenges loom: widening divisions among member states over potential retaliatory measures against Israel for breaches of the EU–Israel Association Agreement; the need to build consensus on the 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework; and the task of rallying hesitant member states behind a more assertive global economic strategy, including efforts to diversify trade partnerships at a time when major deals such as EU–Mercosur remain unratified.
Participation is open to EPC members only, the media and EU officials.