Ursula von der Leyen used her set piece speech last year to declare Europe's "independence moment." Twelve months later, the European Commission president's record shows the EU's independence still very much depends on its national capitals. One year after her last State of the Union address, von der Leyen has delivered most clearly where the Commission could act largely on its own: writing laws and funding initiatives on core topics like tech, trade and social policy. She struggled most where success required member countries to agree, surrender more control to Brussels or build genuinely new European capabilities — particularly on defense.
But, she added, “all efforts are reaching their limits, because national self-interest continues to play a major role.” That tension runs through POLITICO’s assessment of the promises in von der Leyen’s last State of the Union address. Of more than 40 announcements — broadly defined as commitments that could plausibly be turned into action — roughly 15 politically significant commitments stand out. Von der Leyen framed promises including a drone wall, an India trade deal and an affordable housing plan as part of a wider push for European sovereignty.
Where von der Leyen struggled was with the promises that were supposed to change what Europe actually is and create its supposed “independence moment.” Those were the promises that made last year’s speech feel bigger than a normal Commission work program. And those are the areas where the gap between ambition and reality remains widest. Few lines from last year’s speech were more memorable than von der Leyen’s promise to build a “drone wall.” The idea was presented as a jointly developed, real-time European capability to detect and counter aerial threats.
The concept quickly ran into political resistance at the informal European Council meeting in Copenhagen on Oct. 1, and evolved into a broader counter-drone action plan. The integrated European capability as originally advertised did not materialize within the year. The second major miss was von der Leyen’s plan to use immobilized Russian assets to fund a reparations loan for Ukraine.
It was one of the most creative financing ideas put forward by the EU. It also ran straight into legal and political problems. By December 2025, EU leaders were still asking officials to keep working on the technical details.
In the end, Europe agreed on a €90 billion Ukraine loan with more conventional financing through EU borrowing and backed by the EU budget. Then there was the European Defence Semester. The name itself was ambitious: regular EU-level scrutiny and coordination of national defense efforts, echoing the European Semester used to grade capitals' economic policy.
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