Energy

Lucinda Creighton: von der Leyen heavy on ideals but light on detail in energy crisis speech

The European Commission president’s address in Strasbourg last week fell short on both a big vision for reform of the energy market and on practical steps that are likely to really make a difference to European citizens

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission: her big idea to combat the energy crisis is to establish a taskforce to examine the problem, rather than setting out the many urgent steps that are necessary. Picture: EP

The president of the European Commission delivered her third state of the European Union speech to a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg last week. This evolving tradition was once met with ridicule, yet as each year passes it becomes more and more important in the context of agenda-setting and policy-making within Europe.

Ursula von der Leyen rightly used the occasion this year to emphasise Europe’s horror at the bloodshed and destruction that ...