The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, gave her State of the Union speech at the Parliament in Strasbourg, France, in the last few hours. Among the main topics addressed: support for Kiev in the war against Russia. "I am proud to announce that the Commission will propose to extend our temporary protection to Ukrainians" in the Old Continent, she said.

"Membership" to the European Union "is based on merit and the Commission will always uphold this principle. It takes hard work and leadership. But there is already a lot of progress. We have seen the great strides already made by Ukraine since we granted candidate status. And we saw the determination of other candidate countries to implement reforms", underlined von der Leyen.

Meanwhile, "our support to Ukraine will continue. This year alone -she added- we have provided 12 billion euros to contribute to the payment of salaries and pensions and to support the functioning of hospitals, schools and other services. And with our Asap proposal (Act in Support of Ammunition Production, Ed) we are increasing the production of ammunition to meet Ukraine's immediate needs".