As every year, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, gave her State of the Union address, taking stock of the situation on what the European Union has achieved in recent years and outlining flagship initiatives, which the European Commission plans to undertake in the coming year.
Young generation was placed at the centre of her speech, underlining the need to listen to them, to listen their ideas and their worries, in order to shape the Europe of opportunities and equality.
“It is the moment to show to the young generation that we can build a continent where you can be who you are, love who you want, and aim as high as you want. A continent reconciled with nature and leading the way on new technologies. A continent that is united in freedom and peace. This is Europe’s moment to once again answer the call of history.“ said the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
In the context of equality, she focused on an important achievement reached in 2022: the adoption of the Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence. For EFN, it is a key topic as the most nurses are women and suffer violence and abuse in the workplace. Protecting and guaranteeing safe workplaces for them is a moral duty.
As part of the European Commission’s ambition to build a greener and more digital, the 2023 State of the Union address is expected to boost EU funds to support all the industry sectors in the green transition and in the digitalisation process. On AI, she expressed the willing to launch a new AI Act for allowing companies to make an ethical and safe use of it.
In her speech towards the European Parliament, Ursula von der Leyen also focused on the nurses’ shortage, saying: “Labour shortage reduce the capacity for prosperity”. As the major of healthcare professionals, the lack of nurses represent a great issue for the healthcare systems which are collapsing. During the Covid-19 pandemic, regarding hospital care, EU citizens have seen how continuity of care has been interrupted and waiting times increased. As for the workforce itself, as the workload continues to increase, shifts are frequent very long times, increased workloads and an often inadequate mix of skills with an increase in the elderly discharge of experienced nurses, nursing processes assigned to non-nursing staff and in many EU countries there are difficulties in obtaining job security and competitive contracts of employment.
To conclude, we leave you with the words of the President of the European commission: “this is Europe’s moment to answer the call of history.“