Von der Leyen announces a security alliance of the EU with Canada, the United Kingdom and Ukraine

Brussels"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," borrowing the words of Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities —in reference to Europe just before the French Revolution broke out—, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has described the moment the continent is living today. "The state of our Union is the strongest it has ever been. The state of our Union can also seem as precarious as it has ever been", the German leader began her speech on the state of the Union, with which the European political year is inaugurated each year.

After a summer marked by the migration crisis in Ceuta, the rise of the far-right, and Putin's hybrid warfare episodes at the EU borders, Von der Leyen has asserted that the state of the Union "is the strongest it has ever been". It has increased defense spending by almost 80% in just five years and because it has demonstrated that it knows how to respond to threats like the one Greenland suffered, she maintains. But, at the same time, she has admitted that this same state "can feel as precarious as ever", because we are navigating in an "openly hostile" world.

The threat is twofold: on one hand, external pressure —Russia, China, the fracture of the international system, disinformation— and, on the other, the internal erosion from ultranationalists and "puppets of authoritarians", according to her words. Faced with this, she has called for more unity and more sovereignty: "in this world, Europe's destiny must remain in the hands of Europeans." And she has posed it as a dilemma: "Do we want a strong and independent Europe that defends its values in this world? Or do we let divisions and dependencies hold us back?".

From the seat of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the President of the European Commission has highlighted the trade agreements that the EU has signed under her mandate with partners such as India, Mexico, or the Mercosur countries. "In this new world, we must urgently rethink our alliances and build global coalitions to strengthen our resilience and our democracies", she said.

To respond to this need for partners, it has offered Canada to be the first associate member of the EU. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has been involved in a confrontation with Donald Trump in defense of freedoms and global governance, has been the guest of honor in the hemicycle, and will speak on Thursday at the European Parliament. Von der Leyen has argued that "democracies can choose who they work with" and has remarked that the bond with Canada "is not against anyone, but in favor of our strength."

The alliance would also expand in the field of defense. The President of the European Commission spoke about the Leipzig episode—which she directly attributed to "Russian operatives." The attack was not "just against one member state, but against our entire Union," she said. And she underscored that the hybrid threats facing Europe are "less and less hybrid and less and less threats." To address this, she has proposed a European Security Council. The initiative, "fully aligned with NATO," will also include partners external to the Twenty-seven: Canada, Norway, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. "I believe the time has come for Europe's own Article 4, or a Security Emergency Protocol," she stated.

The described mechanism is simple and similar to NATO's Article 5. When a member state activates it, the others would meet automatically to coordinate a common response and deter further escalation. The proposal, which still needs to be finalized, would serve to respond to incidents below the threshold of armed aggression (sabotage, drone threats, cyberattacks) that currently lack a clear collective response procedure.

The economy, weakened by the impact of the wars in the Middle East, was one of the first points of the speech. For Von der Leyen, Europe "has withstood" the blow of the energy crisis, but that is not enough. She has maintained that the EU needs to complete the historical revision of the single market and be more ambitious regarding energy. How? She has set a goal to double the electricity quota by 2040, while committing to accelerate permits and reduce regulations.

However, these initiatives will be of no use, she assures, without a project to reduce the trade deficit with China, which "is now one billion euros a day". "It has reached a turning point," she asserted. Von der Leyen recalled that she maintains a dialogue with China; now it must "yield results". And she did not hesitate to warn Beijing: "let it be clear: we will use all the tools at our disposal to rebalance our relationship". To reduce dependence on China (80% in general and 90% in some rare earths), she announced a European Critical Raw Materials Corporation to buy and conserve these materials.

The challenges of the future

"This has been the summer of truth for the continent," said the president in reference to the fires that have devoured Europe. The toll is "devastating": "660,000 hectares burned to the ground. Some 12 million tons of crops lost. Key rivers such as the Danube, the Rhine, and the Garonne are disappearing before our eyes. More than 35,000 additional deaths during the heatwaves." In this sense, she asserted that climate goals must be maintained without nuance, not only to prevent, but to adapt to the new reality. Von der Leyen has presented a new climate alliance with various axes: climate insurance (which will cover the damages caused by natural disasters), a water initiative, and a future European Firefighter Fleet.

The other great future challenge is artificial intelligence. Following recent requests from some CEOs to halt the development of this technology, Von der Leyen used a more cautious tone than in other years and highlighted the dangers of "self-recursive models." Nevertheless, she maintains that "we must continue in the race" for development, because "it is fundamental for our independence." In this area, she remarked that we must work "in the European way" and gave reasons for optimism: "AI can benefit humanity, if we do it right," she said.

Minors and social networks

The area where she did speak about regulation is social media. This Thursday, the Commission will present the law that is to ban social media for those under 13 and will limit its use for those under 15. "We must not accept addictive features. We must not accept that children are dragged towards increasingly extreme content," she stated.

She also addressed the Ceuta crisis. Von der Leyen assured that vulnerable people are being exploited, both by "unscrupulous traffickers and smugglers" and by "our adversaries," whom she did not detail. In this context, she presented the new European Emergency Response Framework, which establishes strict criteria for dealing with emergency situations at the borders. "We will always comply with our principles," she said, but warned that the EU will not give up on protecting its borders: "We are the Europeans who decide who enters."

The initiative also proposes strengthening Frontex to accelerate returns, as well as improving early warning systems and collaboration with third countries. "We will ensure that we can detect and anticipate threats on the internet. And, finally, we will continue to address the root causes of irregular migration," she assured.

More in passing, a part of the speech focused on social rights, starting with housing, which "is not a privilege, it is a right," she insisted. Von der Leyen boasted about the first Housing Law presented last week, the European Care Agreement, and the quality jobs law she plans to present before the end of next year. If last year's speech was marked by Von der Leyen's tepidity regarding the war in Gaza, this time the former minister of Merkel's government has condemned the Israeli settlements in the West Bank: "they are unacceptable."