EditVon der Leyen courts Canada as first associate member in State of the Union speech
Commission president warns of an “openly hostile world,” unveils Middle Corridor and critical-materials corporation
Rain fell on Strasbourg as Ursula von der Leyen delivered her sixth State of the Union address, the weather matching the sombre tone she set from the outset. The hemicycle of the European Parliament was packed. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney sat in the front row, a guest of honour whose presence shifted the atmosphere of the annual set-piece. Von der Leyen never named Donald Trump. She spoke instead of an “openly hostile world,” of Greenland when it was threatened, and of Europe’s determination to defend every square metre of its territory.
She opened with Dickens: it was the best of times and the worst of times. The Union, she said, had never been stronger and had never felt more precarious. Defence spending had risen 80 per cent in five years. Europe had broken its toxic dependence on Russian fossil fuels and become the world’s largest trading power. Yet genuine concerns were being weaponised to divide Europeans, from outside and from within. “The rise of the extreme and the decline of nuance” was visible in public debate and in the way people treated one another. Cognitive warfare and disinformation campaigns, she implied, were now part of the everyday contest.
The most striking moment came when she turned to Carney. Trade in goods under CETA had grown 75 per cent. Europe and Canada saw the world with the same eyes – from AI and climate to the Arctic and geopolitics. They had stood together on Ukraine, defence, raw materials and supply chains. Above all, she said, both believed in democracy: power did not belong to the strongest, the richest or the loudest. “I would like to work with you on opening the door for Canada to be the first associate member of the EU.” She walked across the floor, embraced him, and the chamber rose in a standing ovation. The proposal, she insisted, was not against anyone else but for common strength. An “Alliance for the Future” would cover advanced manufacturing, defence industry, the Arctic, energy, critical minerals, batteries, AI, quantum computing and cybersecurity. Carney will address MEPs tomorrow.
Energy vulnerability received a blunt accounting. Since the conflict around Iran and the disruption of the Strait of Hormuz, the EU had spent an additional €90 billion on fossil-fuel imports “without getting a single extra molecule of energy.” The lesson, von der Leyen said, was the same as after 2022: Europe must accelerate electrification, renewables, nuclear and storage to cut import dependence. The Commission’s goal is to double the share of electricity in the energy mix by 2040.
On infrastructure she announced a concrete project. “I can announce today a new international connectivity project. It will link the South Caucasus and Central Asia directly to the European market — what we call the Middle Corridor. Through Global Gateway, we will aim to crowd up to €12 billion in public and private investments. Our goal is to diversify routes, triple trade flows and slash freight transit times by 2030. To make this a reality, we will organise a Regional Connectivity Summit with the Prime Minister of Bulgaria.” The announcement was one of the few moments of precise numbers and a named member country as partner.
Critical raw materials received similar treatment. “We have too many dangerous dependencies in critical minerals and rare earths. We need to urgently procure and build up reserves. No country can do this on its own. This is why we will establish a new European corporation on critical raw materials to stockpile what we need for batteries and tech and defence.” Industry, independence and security, she said, depended on it.
Security language hardened. Hybrid threats were becoming less hybrid. The attempted drone attack in Leipzig, she said, used military-grade material and was carried out by Russian operatives on European soil—an attack not on one member state but on the Union. Europe needed its own counter-hybrid playbook and a mechanism to flank NATO’s Article 4 for incidents that fall below armed aggression but clearly threaten national security. A European Security Council must become a reality. The new format would include allies such as Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Norway and Canada. She did not elaborate on its precise composition or decision-making rules.
Enlargement was framed as both opportunity and test of values. Roadmaps would be proposed soon for the most advanced candidates, based on merit. Respect for European values was non-negotiable. Von der Leyen said she had been horrified by images of the glorification of Ratko Mladić in Serbia after the convicted war criminal’s death in The Hague. The remark drew a line under any suggestion that accession could proceed while such revisionism persisted.
Among the democracy initiatives listed in the accompanying letter of intent was a “Congress of Europe.” The phrase recalled the 1948 Hague Congress that helped launch the European project. Von der Leyen did not expand on the format in the speech itself, but the Commission presented it as a vehicle to renew the European idea for a new generation and to counter the “decline of nuance.” Other proposals included an emergency-response framework and a recommendation to ban conversion practices.
The speech wove competitiveness, climate adaptation after another summer of heatwaves and wildfires, online safety for children, and industrial policy into a single argument: Europe must become more independent or lose the ability to choose its own path. Partnerships with like-minded democracies—Canada first among them—were presented as strategic, not sentimental. The rain outside the Louise Weiss building continued as MEPs prepared for the debate.
Caption: European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a debate on ‘State of the Union’ at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, 16 September 2026. The current plenary session runs from 14 until 17 September 2026. EPA/RONALD WITTEK
Updated: September 16, 2026 - 11:31
