EU chief says Europe in ‘a fight for our future’

The European Union’s most powerful official has warned that Europe is battling against a series of threats posed by Russia, new global trade challenges and even other major world powers and must stake a claim to its independence.

In a state of the union speech, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced new measures to help Ukraine fight off Russia’s full-scale invasion, and she called for trade restrictions and sanctions on Israel over the war in Gaza.

She also defended the deal she reached with US President Donald Trump to limit the impact of his global tariff war, despite agreeing to a 15% duty rate for most European exports to the United States.

“Europe is in a fight,” Ms von der Leyen told EU politicians in Strasbourg, France. “A fight for our values and our democracies. A fight for our liberty and our ability to determine our destiny for ourselves. Make no mistake — this is a fight for our future.”

“Battle lines for a new world order based on power are being drawn right now,” she said, adding that the EU “must fight for its place in a world in which many major powers are either ambivalent or openly hostile to Europe”.

“This must be Europe’s independence moment,” said the 66-year-old former German defence minister, who has become a prominent figure at summits with leaders around the world, despite her role as a political appointee who has not been elected to office.

The commission is the EU’s executive arm. It proposes laws that impact the lives of around 450 million people across 27 countries, and monitors whether those rules are respected.

In recent years, it has helped Europe to survive the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, break its dependency on Russian energy supplies and cope with a trade war launched by a traditional ally.

Turning to Russia’s war on Ukraine, now in its fourth year, ms von der Leyen said that Russian President Vladimir Putin shows no sign of ending the war, and that “our response must be clear too”.

“We need more pressure on Russia to come to the negotiation table. We need more sanctions,” she said. The commission and EU member countries are working on a new raft of sanctions targeting Russia’s energy revenues.

Poland said on Wednesday that multiple Russian drones entered its territory over the course of several hours and were shot down with help from Nato allies.

Ms von der Leyen condemned the “reckless and unprecedented violation of Poland and Europe’s airspace”.

“Europe stands in full solidarity with Poland,” she said. “Putin’s message is clear, and our response must be clear, too. We need more pressure on Russia to come to the negotiation table. We need more sanctions.”

Ms von der Leyen also said that new ways to address Ukraine’s financial challenges must also come through the use of frozen Russian assets in Europe. Almost 200 billion euros worth of those assets are being held in a Belgian clearing house.

Interest earned on the assets – around 3.5 billion euros were generated last year – are already being used to help prop up Ukraine’s war-ravaged economy. Ms von der Leyen said that a “reparations loan” for damage inflicted by Russia is being weighed.

She also announced the creation of a “drone alliance” with Ukraine – drones have become a decisive factor in the war – with six billion euros in funds for the effort.

To applause in the parliament, the commission chief said that she wants to freeze some financial support to Israel, and to impose trade restrictions and sanctions on the government over the war in Gaza.

Breaking with her traditionally very strong pro-Israeli government stance, Ms von der Leyen said that the events in Gaza and the suffering of children and families “has shaken the conscience of the world”.

“Man-made famine can never be a weapon of war. For the sake of the children, for the sake of humanity. This must stop,” she said.

She added that the commission will set up a new Palestinian donor group, with a focus on Gaza’s future reconstruction.

Addressing criticism of the tariff deal with Mr Trump, Ms von der Leyen underlined that Europe depends on the United States as a major trading partner, and that the position of European businesses was improved compared with other countries that got a worse deal.

She said “millions of jobs” depend on that relationship, adding: “And as president of the commission, I will never gamble with people’s jobs and livelihoods.”