Brief notes on the State of the Union (SOTEU) annual address of 10 September 2025

Pedro Madeira Froufe [Editor of this blog and Coordinator of the Group “Studies in European Union Law” (CEDU), of JUSGOV – Research Centre for Justice and Governance, University of Minho)]

On the same day that the President of the Commission delivered her 2025 State of the Union address[1] to the European Parliament, [2] Polish airspace was violated by a group of Russian drones. One of the concerns raised by President von der Leyen was therefore the urgent need to rethink and strengthen the common security and defence policy. In other words, on the very day that the State of the Union address was delivered in the European Parliament, Putin helped to corroborate one of the priorities set out in President von der Leyen’s speech! Moreover, these were the opening words of the speech, in a diagnosis that the President herself described as bleak: “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 democracies. A fight for our liberty and our ability to determine our destiny for ourselves. Make no mistake – this is a fight for our future.”