{"id":464739,"date":"2026-09-10T12:43:26","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T10:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/09\/10\/competitivita-migrazione-costo-della-vita-le-aspettative-dei-gruppi-parlamentari-dal-discorso-sullo-stato-dellunione-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T13:34:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T11:34:59","slug":"competitiveness-migration-cost-of-living-what-parliamentary-groups-expect-from-the-2026-state-of-the-union-address","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/09\/10\/competitiveness-migration-cost-of-living-what-parliamentary-groups-expect-from-the-2026-state-of-the-union-address\/","title":{"rendered":"Competitiveness, migration, cost of living: what parliamentary groups expect from the 2026 State of the Union Address"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 Next week, the eyes \u2013 or rather, ears \u2013 of all of Europe will be on the European Parliament\u2019s plenary session in Strasbourg, when, on Wednesday 16 September, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will deliver the State of the Union address (SOTEU)<\/strong>. A key annual event in which the head of the Commission outlines the political and legislative priorities for the coming year<\/strong>. A stage that, yesterday (September 9), von der Leyen addressed together with the leaders of the political groups in the European Parliament at the Conference of Presidents of the Eurocamera\u2019s political groups, presenting her proposals to them and listening to their <\/p>\n

 The issue of \u201ccompetitiveness\u201d is close to the heart of the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola<\/strong>, who believes the matter should feature prominently in the 2026 State of the Union address. This is because \u201cwe cannot ask our businesses to compete with heavily subsidised goods, nor can we allow low-cost products, manufactured under unfair conditions, to flood our market,\u201d Metsola explained. <\/p>\n

Echoing her views, Manfred Weber<\/strong>, the president of the European People\u2019s Party \u2013 the same political family as Metsola and von der Leyen \u2013 stated that \u201cthe economy, business and employment\u201d must be at the heart of \u201cour ambitions.<\/strong>\u201d In addition, according to Weber, it is necessary to recognise that today \u201cmigration remains a priority issue for citizens.\u201d For the German, this means \u201cregaining control of our borders\u201d and \u201cstopping illegal immigration.\u201d On the subject of artificial intelligence, the German leader urged \u201cstriking the right balance between innovation and the protection of people in this new context\u201d and reiterated the importance of the European Union\u2019s support for Ukraine. <\/p>\n

Migration remains a key issue for the sovereigntist movement. \u201cWe were all shocked in July when over 70,000 migrants travelled from Morocco to Ceuta,\u201d recalled the leader of the Europe of Sovereign Nations party, Stanis\u0142aw Tyszka<\/strong>. His party will therefore ask von der Leyen \u201cwhether she intends to change the policy that is leading to the closure of the Schengen area.\u201d Another issue for Tyszka will be energy prices, because if \u201cwe do not put a stop to this economic suicide on the part of European economic policy, we will lag far behind the economic policies of other countries,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

 Similarly, the co-chair of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, Nicola Procaccini<\/strong>, calls for \u201cjust one thing: to put common sense back at the heart of European policies.\u201d This would involve \u201cgenuine deregulation \u2013 and therefore less bureaucracy \u2013 a green transition that is not overly ideological but based on what is happening in the world,\u201d as well as \u201cgreater protection against illegal immigration.\u201d <\/p>\n

Within the ranks of the right, the Patriots for Europe appear to stand out. \u201cOur priorities regarding the State of the Union address differ significantly,\u201d admitted MEP Marieke Ehlers<\/strong>. Whilst she expects von der Leyen to \u201ccall for more EU, more funding and greater centralisation,\u201d she believes \u201cthat the message we are receiving from our voters points in the opposite direction: less intervention.\u201d <\/p>\n

Even within Renew, immigration remains a key issue. The party\u2019s president, Val\u00e9rie Hayer<\/strong>, has called for \u201cthe Migration Pact to be translated into concrete action\u201d through \u201cthe establishment of EU offices for legal entry channels, creating safe and regular pathways<\/strong> \u2013 particularly for work purposes \u2013 whilst safeguarding Schengen from populist attacks.\u201d The Liberal group also expects \u201cambition on the climate front, including measures to adapt infrastructure\u201d, as \u201cthis summer\u2019s wildfires demonstrate that this issue is not a luxury.”<\/p>\n

The Greens call for greater focus on environmental issues and wildfires.<\/strong> Their co-chair, Terry Reintke<\/strong>, expects the government to clarify its position both on the \u201cphasing out of all fossil fuels in Europe\u201d and on the formulation of \u201cnew measures to adapt to the new circumstances in which we live.\u201d <\/p>\n

The co-chair of the Left in the European Parliament, Martin Schirdewan<\/strong>, hopes that the head of the European Commission will tackle \u201cthe cost-of-living crisis\u201d and \u201cfinally introduce legislative measures that give Europeans the chance to pay their rent and access affordable housing, energy, and food.\u201d Together with members of his party, he hopes that von der Leyen will have \u201cthe courage to pursue social justice by taxing the rich\u201d through \u201ca digital tax on large technology companies and a European digital tax.<\/strong>\u201d There is also a need for \u201ca tax on windfall profits for large food retail chains and the arms industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

 Similarly, the group\u2019s chair (S&D), Iratxe Garc\u00eda P\u00e9rez<\/strong>, hopes that the Commission\u2019s commitment will be \u201caimed at improving citizens\u2019 living conditions.\u201d Issues close to the Socialists\u2019 hearts include wages, pensions, education and healthcare, which is why \u201cwe must explain how to ensure affordable housing, quality jobs and a future for our young people,\u201d the Spanish politician clarified.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The event is scheduled for Wednesday 16 September, when the President of the European Commission will outline the political priorities for the coming year to the plenary session in Strasbourg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7908,"featured_media":464558,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25681],"tags":[25871,31262,28225,34940,34774,26238,26160,26755,30549,28347,32400,26783,29451,32034,28379],"class_list":["post-464739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-conservatives-and-reformists-en","tag-europa-nazioni-sovrane","tag-i-verdi","tag-manfred-weber-en-2","tag-metsolaand","tag-nicola-procaccini-en","tag-parlamento-europeo-en","tag-patrioti-per-leuropa-en","tag-plenaria-di-strasburgo-en","tag-renew-en","tag-socialisti-en","tag-soteu-en","tag-la-sinistra-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7908"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464739"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":464740,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464739\/revisions\/464740"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}