In her annual State of the EU speech, von der Leyen has invited Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to Strasbourg as a special guest.
According to the news site Euractiv, she is expected to propose, among other things, the creation of a European Security Council to bring together like-minded countries such as Canada, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Norway to discuss security threats with the leaders of EU countries.
She nevertheless begins her speech primarily with economic issues, promising faster permits and a crackdown on bureaucracy, investments in energy and a modern EU budget. She also promises not to be afraid of EU measures against China to address the large trade deficit.
Words are good, but actions are better, says von der Leyen.
“Summer of Truth”
The EU chief also addresses climate change and summer heat waves, droughts and forest fires early on.
This was the summer of truth. Almost no part of Europe escaped. Europe is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, warns the Commission President, promising a “heatwave plan” in the fight against climate change.
According to her, this requires both climate action and climate adaptation. A special plan to manage the hundred most climate-exposed risk areas in Europe is therefore promised for later this autumn.
Age limit online
In advance, much has been said about the proposal for joint EU measures for access to social media and the internet that will be presented by von der Leyen tomorrow.
According to leaked pieces, it consists of three levels, where children under 13 should only be allowed access to particularly secure sites with parental permission, while 13-15-year-olds are given restrictions on contacts and screen time, and self-created accounts are only allowed from the age of 15.
