Will Europe fight for its economic power?

The European Union is backed into a corner. Weeks after inking a highly concessionary trade deal with Washington, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sought to chart a path forward in her 2025 State of the Union speech, a wide-ranging attempt to build enthusiasm for the European project and lay out a few new plans. As a mood-setter, the speech hit most of the right notes: support for Ukraine, a commitment to EU sovereignty and sympathy for voter concerns like affordable electric cars, jobs and housing. 

Policy progress was in shorter supply. The Berlaymont’s course now seems to be limited to what EU member states can agree on. Rather than push for big new goals, von der Leyen aimed at more modest deliverables like streamlining bureaucracy, coordinating defence planning and providing a few billion euros for electric batteries and scale-up financing. She seemed to realise that political will was the most important resource at stake: “Does Europe have the stomach for this fight? … Or do we want to just fight between ourselves?”

Europe’s needs and realities were weighed against von der Leyen’s speech in a special live episode of The Sound of Economics, Bruegel’s flagship podcast, featuring Senior Fellows Simone Tagliapietra, Reinhilde Veugelers and Director Jeromin Zettelmeyer. While hailing von der Leyen’s commitment to the European project, the scholars warned that rhetoric won’t be enough to revive Europe’s electrification industry, promote technologies of the future and join up its security spending. The conversation took place on 10 September, just hours after the speech was delivered at the European Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg. You can watch the video recording on Bruegel’s website or take a listen to the audio on major podcast streaming platforms.

The Why Axis is a weekly newsletter distributed by Bruegel, bringing you the latest research on European economic policy. 

Sign up for the newsletter.