In her acceptance speech for the Charlemagne Prize on Thursday 29 May in Aachen, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, urged Europe’s citizens to rediscover the “boldness” of the Founding Fathers to build “an independent Europe” capable of confronting the “international disorder” provoked by the imperialist appetites of the great powers.
“We cannot (...) once again fall for the fallacy that the storm will pass. That things will go back to how they were before. If only the war would end. Or a tariff deal is struck. Or the next elections have a different outcome. No, they will not”, declared Ms von der Leyen.
According to the European leader, Europeans will have to “cast of (their) shackles” and rid themselves of the fear of change in order to build an independent Europe that is “open to the world”, defends its values and interests and is able to guarantee stability within its borders. “History does not forgive either dithering or delaying”, she warned, setting out four priorities to act on:
- Set up “a new form of Pax Europaea for the 21st century”, by investing massively and urgently in security to counter the threat posed by “the adversaries of our open democratic societies”, among them, Vladimir Putin;
- “Put innovation and competitiveness at the heart of Europe’s renewal”. According to Ms von der Leyen, Europe has the necessary assets, including a pool of talent, a social market economy, an education system, mastery of cutting-edge technologies, an entrepreneurial fabric, reliable rules and a willingness to trade with the world. In passing, she pointed out that the EU does “87%” of its trade outside the United States;
- “Working on the next historical reunification” of the European continent, by welcoming the Balkan countries and other candidate countries to join the EU; For Ms von der Leyen, this is “not just a moral necessity” but “a prerequisite for a stronger Europe”;
- “Europe can only thrive if democracy thrives”, she stressed. She called for both the threats posed by the EU’s external adversaries and attempts to weaken it from within to be countered. Ms von der Leyen expressed her concern at “ the rise of extremist parties or illiberal tendencies across Europe”, stating that this threat was “not just a passing one”. Instead of complaining about people who vote for extremist parties, she said it was important to understand the reasons for discontent and to make a “stronger argument” for issues such as “how irregular migration is handled”, about “the cost of living or the cost of housing” and “excessive bureaucracy in everyday life”.
To see Mr von der Leyen’s speech: https://aeur.eu/f/h56 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)