European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday was short on proposals for change, instead promising more of the measures that have put the EU on the back foot.
The Commission chief’s speech sounded like that of a politician preparing for an election campaign—exemplifying how the Commission in the past decade has devolved from being an institution that serves the EU member states into a political machine driving a left-liberal agenda.
Von der Leyen’s first five-year tenure at the top of the Commission was a disaster for Europe. The adoption of the Green Deal contributed to tax hikes, soaring energy prices, and unnecessary regulation around Europe in a bid to reduce carbon emissions. The overregulation of the EU’s single market has led to a loss of competitiveness, with other global actors leaving the EU behind in the areas of innovation, technology, and research and development.
The German Commission chief’s plan for the next five years, which she presented in Davos, contained more of the same. Von der Leyen admitted that “too much of our top talent is leaving the European Union … and far too many firms are holding back investment in Europe because of unnecessary red tape.” Yet her presentation promised even more regulation, more burdens, and more European integration, even though the call for sovereign member states to take back competencies from the EU is growing all across Europe.
She promised to create a European Savings and Investments Union “to ensure the seamless flow of investment across our union,” and to “make business much easier all across Europe.” She also introduced a plan to deconstruct barriers for companies, allowing them to operate “under one single set of rules” with regards to corporate law, insolvency, labour law, and taxation. Third, she urged for a completion of the EU’s energy union strategy, “so that clean power can run freely across our continent and bring prices down for all Europeans.”
She proposed cooperation with all global powers “to avoid a global race to the bottom, because it is in no one’s interest to break the bonds of the global economy.”
As an example, she mentioned the deal struck in December between the EU and the South American Mercosur bloc, which will—as France and other EU member states opposed to the agreement have pointed out—will pave the way for cheap, substandard agricultural products to flood the European market.
Von der Leyen emphasised that she wants to upgrade the strategic partnership with India, engage constructively with China—despite raising its tariffs last year on Chinese electric cars—and wants more cooperation with “our closest partners,” including the United States. “This is the moment to engage beyond blocks and taboos, and Europe is ready for change,” she said, a day after new U.S. President Donald Trump said that he wanted to reverse the U.S. trade deficit with the EU, either with tariffs or more energy exports.
The commission chief added that Europe will protect its interests, if necessary, but “our values will not change”—a not so subtle hint at the fact that Brussels has been promoting a liberal agenda, topped off by LGBTQ activism, in its dealings with its global partners, as well as its own member states.
During her speech, von der Leyen did not once mention one of the biggest threats to Europe’s security—illegal immigration—even though millions of undocumented migrants have been allowed to enter the EU under her watch. She also failed to raise the issue of another important security threat, the war in Ukraine. After her speech, Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum, probed von der Leyen on her thoughts on Ukraine, but she failed to give any new insights, simply stating that the EU will continue to support the war-torn country, and that “we stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
