European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called on Wednesday for EU states to form a new partnership with Canada and tackle climate change, competition from China and other major challenges in “an openly hostile world”.

Von der Leyen covered a large range of topics in a 73-minute annual “state of the union” address to the European ​Parliament in Strasbourg, leading off with the opening line from Charles Dickens’ Tales of Two Cities, which she said was also described the world ‌today. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”.

CANADA

Von der Leyen said the EU was opening the door to Canada becoming the first “associate member” of the 27-nation bloc, a status that is not set out in EU treaties.

Canada and the EU stood together in defence of Ukraine, and believed in democracy and that power does not belong to “the strongest, the richest or the ​loudest”.

The EU’s relationship with Canada should rise to the highest level possible, with cooperation on economic security, intelligent manufacturing, tech, defence industries, the Arctic, energy, critical ​minerals, batteries, quantum and cyber security.

CHINA

Von der Leyen described the EU goods trade deficit with of €1 billion per day as “unsustainable” and ⁠said a tipping point had been reached.

She said dialogue with Beijing must produce results and that it was in both sides’ interest to find a solution.

“Let me be clear: ​we will use all the tools at our disposal to rebalance our relationship. Words are good. But deeds are better,” she said. She added the EU would establish a ​European Corporation on critical raw materials to help obtain and stockpile supplies.

CLIMATE

In response to a summer of heatwaves and wildfires, the EU will launch a “climate insurance alliance” aimed at increasing insurance cover for extreme weather events, von der Leyen said.

“Today, only around 25% of catastrophe losses in Europe are covered by private insurance. This means that, far too often, national budgets become the insurer of last ​resort. We need to take action to close this gap,” she said.

The European Commission will also present a European Heatwave Plan with early warning systems and health preparedness, ​along with a water initiative to address leakage, improve risk management and address the insurance gap. For wildfires, von der Leyen also proposed a future European firefighting fleet.

AI

Von der Leyen backed calls ‌by leading ⁠U.S. artificial intelligence labs for a slowdown in the development of the technology.

“As the frontier models become more capable, these risks have come more sharply into focus. Models being developed will allow hacking on a level we never thought possible. And they will soon be in the hands of adversaries who see the world very differently from us,” von der Leyen told EU lawmakers.

“CEOs of the most advanced companies tell us that it is time to slow down on the self-recursive models. To pace the frontier. If the people ​developing the technology are clear, then we ​should be too,” she said.

Von der ⁠Leyen also said the EU should step up work on establishing guardrails with like-minded partners such as Britain and Canada.

SOCIAL MEDIA

The European Commission will propose on Thursday a ban on social media access for children under the age of 13 and “mini accounts’ supervised ​by parents, with limited features and time restrictions until a child turns 15.

UKRAINE/SECURITY

Von der Leyen pledged that the EU would gives ​its “strongest-ever support” to Ukraine ⁠over the forthcoming winter, which she forecast would be the toughest of the war triggered by Russia’s invasion.

She said the EU would provide humanitarian aid and reinforce supplies of power and heating and would strengthen Ukraine’s air defences.

The European Commission chief also proposed a European Security Council that could bring together the EU and partners such as Britain, Canada and Norway and ⁠establish an ’emergency ​security protocol’ to allow EU members to trigger discussions to respond to crises.

MIGRATION

The European Commission will propose ​an emergency response system to react to sudden massive inflows of migrants.

“Europe needs the means to protect its borders at all times. Especially in scenarios when mass movements are engineered and weaponised. This is why we will ​propose a new European Emergency Response Framework,” she said.

The framework would only a be triggered under strictly defined criteria and offer time-limited flexibility to affected countries.

Source:  Reuters

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