How to write a State of the Union speech

Big promises, special guests and social media influencers have become a routine part of the EU’s most high-profile address. For the past six months, officials across Brussels have been feeding ideas, demands and policy pledges into Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the Union speech. Its contents, however, will remain a closely guarded secret until the European Commission president takes the podium on Wednesday. The speech is the product of a sprawling process involving Commission departments, national officials, experts, lobbyists and interest groups. Yet the final decisions — what makes the cut, what is discarded and what becomes the central message — are made by a tiny circle around the president.