As Russia’s direct military threats to Europe increase, with growing drone incursions and sabotage attacks against NATO allies, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivered a very weak State of the European Union speech.
The speech offered little new on Russia. President Von der Leyen herself said that what was needed was “not necessarily new sanctions” but stronger enforcement of the existing measures and the closing of loopholes used by Russia to circumvent them.
Compensating somewhat was the preparation for the launch of the Europe’s new strategic defence policy incorporating the Democracy Shield and the High Representative Kaja Kallas, who once again gave a much more direct warning about Russia’s escalating aggression against Europe. Speaking in the European Parliament a day before President von der Leyen’s address, Vice-Commission President Kallas cited the recent Russian drone incidents in Lithuania and Poland, the firing of flares by a Russian warship at a Danish helicopter and attacks close to Europe’s borders. She said these were “not accidents” but calculated attempts to test European resolve and warned that “Putin will not stop unless he is stopped”.
High Representative Kallas called for stronger intelligence-sharing, further sanctions against those organising attacks, continued action against Russia’s shadow fleet, tighter restrictions on Russian diplomatic activity and stronger action against Russian information operations. She acknowledged that Europe was taking many of the right measures but said it was “not doing them fast enough”.
Indeed, one of the main highlights of President von der Leyen’s speech was instead children’s access to social media. The Commission subsequently presented its EU KIDS Act, proposing no social-media access for children under 13 and no independent personal account before the age of 15. Children aged 13 and 14 would only be allowed supervised “mini accounts” established by parents or guardians, with restricted functions and a one-hour daily limit. Platforms serving users aged between 15 and 18 would be required to be safe by design, while the burden of proving that their services are safe for children would shift to the technology companies themselves.
The other major theme of the week was Canada. President von der Leyen proposed opening the door for Canada to become the EU’s first “associate member”, while proposing an EU-Canada “Alliance for the Future” covering defence, AI, quantum technology, energy, critical minerals, cyber security and economic security. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney subsequently took centre stage with his formal address to Parliament following an invitation by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.
Europe was therefore in a celebratory mood this week over its increasingly close alliance with Canada while the drums of war from the east were become increasingly more difficult to ignore.
A more expansive political vision came from former French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who used a speech in Reims to call explicitly for a “United States of Europe”, echoing many of the arguments made by Mario Draghi about Europe’s fragmentation, lack of scale and inability to compete effectively when acting as separate national economies.
The ambitions and expectations surrounding Europe’s future are increasingly moving faster than the institutions tasked with delivering them.
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