BERLIN – The European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s last state of the union speech, in 2021, was dominated by a single topic: the coronavirus pandemic and the vaccine rollout. Now that the pandemic has faded from the headlines, this year’s was dominated by a different crisis: the largest-scale war in Europe since 1945.
The Ukraine war and its consequences – from a massive refugee influx to an intensifying energy crisis – were the focus of virtually the entirety of the speech, which was attended by Olena Zelenska, the wife of the Ukrainian president. “It took immense courage to resist [the Russian president Vladimir] Putin’s cruelty, but you found that courage,” von der Leyen told Zelenska. The EU will support Ukraine “for the long haul”, she said, pointing to financial, diplomatic and military support to Kyiv, as well as unprecedented sanctions on Russia.
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