2 SEP 2010

European Voice

Not for the first time, the European Commission has succumbed to hubris. By styling the contribution of Commission President José Manuel Barroso to September's first session of the European Parliament as his “State of the Union address”, he is inviting unfavourable comparisons between the EU's political culture and that of the United States.

The term “State of the Union” is a direct steal from the US, whose constitution lays down that the president “shall from time to time give to the Congress information on the State of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient”. By tradition, the US president uses his State of the Union address to survey the foreign policy challenges and set out his legislative agenda. The event has become a fixture in the political calendar, given on the last Wednesday evening in January or the first in February.

But the EU is not the US and Barroso should show more respect for the differences.

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