STATE OF THE UNION: BEYOND SPEECHES, EMPOWER CIVIC POWER

September 2025

Editos/Fondemos’ view

FONDEMOS’ VIEW

Ursula von der Leyen delivered on Wednesday 10 September the traditional State of the Union speech. She was under close scrutiny from many stakeholders.
She set out European priorities such as defense, democracy and the Rule of law.

We share that imperative.

We welcome three strong State of the European Union signals: a “new rule-of-law cycle” to detect backsliding earlier; the assertion that “our democracy and the rule of law are guarantors of these freedoms”; and a pledge to significantly boost support for independent media, because “a free press is the backbone of any democracy.”

Yet the EU still confronts a capability-expectations gap: bold promises generate hope, but delivery can stumble on resources, timelines, and internal divisions. Ambition must translate into outcomes.

What will matter now is credibility architecture. Europe’s edge should not be a spectacle but infrastructural power: law, market access, regulatory reach.

Democracy protection succeeds when it becomes routine : predictable funds, courts that hold, media that outlast intimidation. The danger of State of the European Union season is promise inflation, where rhetoric outpaces institutions.

A second risk is technocratic comfort. A rule-of-law cycle is not an Excel ritual: it must change behavior and rebalance power, or measurement becomes noise.

Finally, Europe should act where its leverage is real, normative gravity and economic conditionality, aligning words, budgets and enforcement so every commitment is bankable.

If the Union is “in a fight”, the winning move is to make democracy boringly resilient.

“Europe is in a fight, a fight for a continent that is whole and at peace ; for a free and independent Europe ; a fight for our values and our democracy.”
Ursula von der Leyen