Schmidt Comments on EU Commission State of the Union
Vivien Schmidt, Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration and Professor of International Relations and Political Science at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, provided an analysis of European Commission (EU) President Ursula von der Leyen’s recent State of the Union address in La Razon. The State of the Union took place on September 16, 2020.
During her address, President Von der Leyen discussed her vision for how Europe will prevail through the COVID-19 pandemic, protect citizen health, and combat climate change.
In her analysis, Schmidt commented on the EU response to the ongoing pandemic as well as Von der Leyen’s remarks regarding a European minimum wage. Schmidt applauded the idea of an EU minimum wage as it would guarantee wages in countries where they have been reduced by displaced workers who are being paid much less than in their country of origin.
On the EU response to COVID-19, Schmidt said the efforts have been a mixed bag and Europe needs to have much more capacity in this area. She said that while agencies like the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control performed well, others such as the European Civil Protection mechanism did not. However, Schmidt did point out that the Commission has proposed a significantly larger budget for health programs like EU4Health, which received nearly €9 billion more than originally proposed.
Schmidt’s full analysis can be read here.
Vivien Schmidt is Professor of International Relations and Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and was the first Director of BU’s Center for the Study of Europe, housed at the Pardee School. Schmidt’s research focuses on European political economy, institutions, democracy, and political theory—in particular on the importance of ideas and discourse in political analysis. Read more about her here.