The President of the European Commission will try Wednesday to breathe new life into a European Union weakened by the crisis caused by the pandemic with her first speech on the State of the Union.
The German Ursula von der Leyen, the first woman at the head of this institution, will in turn submit to this exercise imposed on all the presidents of the Brussels executive, and which allows them to better understand their personality.
She will speak at 9:15 am in front of MEPs meeting in plenary session in Brussels and will explain to them her vision for the future of Europe and her action plan.
The pandemic has changed the situation in the European Union.
It reinforced the need for member states to act collectively and accelerate reforms to support their economies in recession thanks to the investments made possible by the massive stimulus plan adopted in July.
The crisis has weakened the EU and Ursula von der Leyen must call on the Member States to pull themselves together and move forward.
It must focus its message around its three priorities: the green deal, the digital revolution and geopolitics.
In particular, it should propose to increase the effort to reduce the EU's greenhouse gas emissions to 55% by 2030 in order to achieve the objective of carbon neutrality by 2050.
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Elected narrowly by the European Parliament after its designation by the States, it relies on a majority made up of the three big families, the European People's Party (the pro-European right), the Social Democrats and the Liberal-centrists of Renew whose priorities it has taken over.
She should call on them on Wednesday to vote without delay on the multiannual budget and thus unblock the implementation of the unprecedented 750 billion euros recovery plan which will create a common debt.
Ursula von der Leyen will also call for the swift adoption of measures to help frontline member states - such as Greece, Malta or Italy - in managing the flow of migrants as the fire at the Greek camp in Moria has recalled the urgency of a lasting European solution, five years after the 2015 crisis. The Commission will present its highly anticipated project to reform migration policy on 23 September.
It is in the process of being finalized and the President of the Commission should not develop this highly sensitive subject much during her speech so as not to offend the capitals because the talks with the Member States are not over.
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Ursula von der Leyen is also expected to speak on several hot issues, starting with Brexit, after London called into question some of its commitments, threats against the rule of law in the EU, in particular from from Poland and Hungary.
Without forgetting relations with the major partners of the Old Continent, in particular the United States, against a backdrop of strong trade tensions, Russia and China.
The form will be as important as the content for this first speech which raises many expectations.
Ursula von der Leyen has embarked on a major communication operation to "sell" the results of her first year of presidency, while the cohesion of the Union was undermined at the start of the pandemic by States which have reacted in dispersed order.
On the foreign policy front, she should finally mention the situation in Belarus where the repression of opponents of President Lukashenko continues unabated, as well as the escalation of tensions with Turkey, two subjects at the heart of the European summit of 24 and September 25.