European Civic Forum

In the opening words of her State of the Union address, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen rightly pointed out the need for institutions to “[earn] the trust of Europeans to deal with their aspirations and anxieties.” However, what followed did not explain how to achieve that goal. Four years into this Commission’s term, the speech offered almost no policies to address underlying problems, instead asking merely for a bunch of reports on persistent and well-known issues.