Leadership Quote by Ursula von der Leyen

“This summit is on action” is the kind of deliberately blunt sentence you reach for when words have started to feel like a liability. Ursula von der Leyen isn’t selling a policy so much as defending a governing class accused of endlessly convening, communique-ing, and congratulating itself while crises compound. The line is a preemptive rebuttal to the meme of international summits as performative theater: big backdrops, bigger press packs, and outcomes that evaporate on contact with reality.

The phrasing does quiet work. “On action” frames the summit like a task force, not a talking shop, and it slyly lowers the bar of persuasion: you don’t have to agree on ideology if you can agree on doing something. Then comes the clincher, “exactly what we need right now,” which turns urgency into moral cover. “Right now” compresses time, implying that hesitation is itself a choice with consequences. It also functions as a unifying solvent: whatever the specific agenda (Ukraine, energy security, industrial policy, migration, climate), the implied antagonist is drift.

The subtext is institutional: the EU and its partners must look capable of execution, not just regulation and rhetoric. Von der Leyen’s role as a transnational executive figure makes “we” strategic; it’s an invitation to shared ownership and shared blame. If action follows, she claims momentum. If it doesn’t, the premise was still necessary: reassure publics that leadership understands the impatience outside the summit hall.