Brussels notebook

Juncker’s State of the Union address

On 9 September, Jean-Claude Juncker gave his first State of the Union address before the European parliament in Strasbourg. The president of the European Commission dedicated most of the speech, which is intended to provide an appraisal of the previous year and indicate the priorities and goals of the coming year, on the crisis of refugees clamouring at Europe’s door. He specifically announced a permanent mechanism for the allocation of asylum applicants among member states when any country believes it cannot handle such a large influx on its own. The new Commission will be charged with assessing the situation in terms of the duration of the emergency and the number of asylum applicants that each country must accept. Factors such as GDP, population, unemployment rate and refugees accepted during the previous six months will establish the number of asylum applicants to be accepted. 

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