Midday brief, in brief

Today at Commission, State of the Union hype and pan-European MEPs

Juncker’s speech will be ‘an important political moment for the European Commission, for Europe, for the president … and for the world.’

On the agenda: State of the Union speech, next week’s agenda, Hungary, European elections and democracy.

On the podium: Commission chief spokesman Margaritis Schinas.

Hyping Juncker’s State of the Union: The Commission is promising big things from Jean-Claude Juncker’s State of the European Union speech, which he’ll deliver in Strasbourg on Wednesday. Schinas said on Friday that the speech will be “an important political moment for the European Commission, for Europe, for the president … and for the world.”

To whet reporters’ appetites for this event of, ahem, global importance, Schinas said ahead of the speech that Juncker will be meeting with EU ambassadors, has a chat scheduled with French President Emmanuel Macron and on Thursday had a working dinner with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Schinas added that Juncker will have “a round of calls and contacts” with other European leaders over the weekend.

A full house? Asked if Juncker will manage to talk to all 28 EU leaders before his speech, Schinas said “it may be possible” that he won’t be able to speak to all of them. He added that the Commission’s spokespersons service probably won’t be able to give details of all of Juncker’s calls.

• State of the Juncker

Pan-European lists at the 2019 European elections: Schinas said the Commission is “following events in the European Parliament” after POLITICO revealed that the Constitutional Affairs Committee wants to reduce the number of MEPs and leave the door open for a pan-European list of lawmakers. The “idea of transnational lists is appealing,” Schinas said but added that any decision would be taken by the national capitals

• MEPs propose cut in their ranks after Brexit

Macron’s European democracy tour: The Commission is examining French President Emmanuel Macron’s call for a series of “democratic conventions” to help rebuild trust in the EU. Macron discussed the idea on a trip to Greece. Schinas said the Commission was already working on a “European citizens’ dialogue” on the EU’s future. It also welcomed Macron’ speech in Athens in which he praised Greece for enacting reforms that helped it stay in the eurozone. The full transcript of Macron’s speech is in French here.

• Macron urges ‘maximum’ ambition’ on eurozone budget, finance minister

Commission refused to talk about: A letter from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to Jean-Claude Juncker after the Commission president ruled out providing EU funding for Hungary’s border fences.

Next week: Here’s the European commissioners’ calendar for next week. As well as Juncker’s speech, commissioners will be in Strasbourg on Tuesday for their weekly meeting.