EU Commission President JeanClaude Juncker is delivering his second State of the European Union speech before the European Parliament (EP) this morning, where issues of terrorism, Brexit, migration and jobs are expected to be top on the agenda.
In addition to this, the way in which the EU will be tackling core demands of EU citizens is also expected to be discussed. A Eurobarometer survey found that the majority of EU citizens find the EU’s action in areas of security, job creation, economic policy, tax fraud, migration, health and protection of external border to be insufficient.
In view of this, as well as the number of terrorist attacks in the EU throughout 2016 and the influx of migrants fleeing the devastating war in Syria and the reign of Isis, it is more than likely that President Juncker will be addressing the above.
The sobering vote last June by the United Kingdom to leave the EU has led to a number of highlevel meetings and discussions, however a clear divide within the EU on how a relationship with the UK should look like following their departure as well as the unchartered territory of such a move makes the tone President Juncker will take unclear. He first declared that the UK should employ exit proceedings at the earliest, and spoke of how the UK will lose access to the internal market and benefits that come with it, but then softened his rhetoric and conceded that exit proceedings would not take place for months.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has come under heavy fire for opening up Germany’s borders to hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees fleeing the war. This has resulted in droves of people passing through Eastern member states having to deal with the foot traffic of people passing through, with some countries such as Hungary simply closing its borders, and many refugees left in harsh conditions until reaching their desired destination.
A lack of consensus on how to deal with the migrant crisis between EU leaders has exposed the deepening cracks within the EU, emphasising the need for unified action.
It is unclear as to whether President Juncker will also discuss the EU’s position on member states that give special tax rulings to multinational companies, which it believes is tantamount to state aid. This was made clear through the highest fine ever imposed by the EU on a member state.
The Commission decided that Ireland must recover unpaid taxes by Apple in Ireland for 2003 to 2014, totalling up to €13 billion, plus interest. Through Ireland’s tax arrangements with the multinational corporation, it concluded that the member state granted Apple illegal tax benefits which enabled it to pay substantially less tax than other firms over the years.
Last year’s speech covered the progress in implementing the Commission’s 10 priorities:
Jobs, growth and investment; the digital single market; energy union and climate change; the internal market; a deeper and fairer economic and monetary union; a balanced EU-US free trade agreement; justice and fundamental rights; migration; being a stronger global actor; and democratic change.
President Juncker is also expected, throughout the course of the three-hour speech and debate which will start at 9am, to review the progress of the above priorities and give an overview of the 2017 Commission Work Programme.
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