{"id":19957,"date":"2026-09-16T12:09:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T10:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/efn.eu\/?p=19957"},"modified":"2026-09-16T12:22:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T10:22:13","slug":"ursula-von-der-leyens-state-of-the-union-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/efn.eu\/?p=19957","title":{"rendered":"Ursula Von Der Leyen\u2019s State of the Union 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The President of the European Commission, Ursula Von Der Leyen, gave her yearly address to the European Parliament\u2019s Plenary, the so-called \u201cthe State of the Union (SOTEU)\u201d. Like every year, this is an important occasion to understand the overall political direction which will be followed by the European Commission in the coming year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most prominent theme in Ursula Von Der Leyen\u2019s theme was European security. Despite this, the President of the European Commission still gave some important remarks on health and social Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Innovation, she stressed the important of investing in AI in healthcare, with the aim of creating real value for patients and healthcare professionals. In this regard, she said that AI needs to be developed in a sustainable manner, and that AI needs to be developed with human agency, as healthcare professionals need to stay behind the wheel. Linked to this, she stressed that to make the most of AI and digitalisation we need a highly skilled and qualified workforce, and therefore she committed to delivering the Quality Jobs Act by the end of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Climate, after one of the hottest summers ever recorded, she pledged that European Commission will soon present a European Heatwave Plan, stating that we need better early warning systems and better health preparedness. This is key for the EFN, which this summer has joined the #HandleTheHeat Campaign<\/a>, led by Healthcare without Harm Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, she stressed the importance of continuing to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights, including in the context of providing better housing for everyone through the Housing Act and by continuing to work towards gender equality and women\u2019s rights.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As nurses are key and indispensable partners in the implementation of this vision, the EFN stands ready to work closely with the European Commission to deliver better and more resilient EU and European healthcare systems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The President of the European Commission, Ursula Von Der Leyen,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":19958,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16765,"url":"https:\/\/efn.eu\/?p=16765","url_meta":{"origin":19957,"position":0},"title":"State of the Union address 2023","author":"efn efn","date":"September 13, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"As every year, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, gave\u00a0her 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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Latest News"","block_context":{"text":"Latest News","link":"https:\/\/efn.eu\/?cat=35"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/efn.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Von-der-leyen-2.jpg?fit=748%2C564&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/efn.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Von-der-leyen-2.jpg?fit=748%2C564&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/efn.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Von-der-leyen-2.jpg?fit=748%2C564&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/efn.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Von-der-leyen-2.jpg?fit=748%2C564&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13526,"url":"https:\/\/efn.eu\/?p=13526","url_meta":{"origin":19957,"position":1},"title":"Ursula von der Leyen set out her vision for the year ahead to MEPs in Strasbourg.","author":"efn efn","date":"September 16, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Speaking to the Parliament, the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, highlighted the European Commission achievements of the past year and presented the priorities for the year ahead, including continuing the vaccination efforts in Europe and speeding up vaccination globally, as well as strengthening the pandemic preparedness; leading the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Latest News"","block_context":{"text":"Latest News","link":"https:\/\/efn.eu\/?cat=35"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15096,"url":"https:\/\/efn.eu\/?p=15096","url_meta":{"origin":19957,"position":2},"title":"State of the Union address 2022","author":"efn efn","date":"September 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"As every year, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, gave her State of the Union address, outlining flagship initiatives which the European Commission plans to undertake in the coming year. Many of them are a response to the recommendations citizens made through the Conference on the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Latest News"","block_context":{"text":"Latest News","link":"https:\/\/efn.eu\/?cat=35"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/efn.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Ursula.jpg?fit=637%2C469&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/efn.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Ursula.jpg?fit=637%2C469&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/efn.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Ursula.jpg?fit=637%2C469&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13011,"url":"https:\/\/efn.eu\/?p=13011","url_meta":{"origin":19957,"position":3},"title":"EFN signs the Manifesto for a European Health Union","author":"efn efn","date":"November 24, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"2020 has been a very difficult year for all of us, with COVID-19 crisis, and in particular the healthcare professionals as the nurses, being at the frontline 24\/7, since the beginning of the year. \u00a0We need to be realistic; this will not be the last pandemic. Many other threats to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Latest News"","block_context":{"text":"Latest News","link":"https:\/\/efn.eu\/?cat=35"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15083,"url":"https:\/\/efn.eu\/?p=15083","url_meta":{"origin":19957,"position":4},"title":"State of the Union address 2022","author":"efn efn","date":"August 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"As every year, Ursula van der Leyen, President of the European Commission, will be delivering her State of the Union address to the European Parliament on 14 September 2022, followed by a plenary debate. 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