Von der Leyen calls for radical changes in Europe

EU must change or risk losing its future - Ursula von der Leyen

The European Union must quickly adapt to new security and political realities, otherwise it risks losing its resilience. This was stated by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.

She quoted a Ukrainian expression:
«Either you change or you die»,
stressing that this is the logic of transformation that the European Union should adopt.

What changes are we talking about

According to von der Leyen, the EU needs:

• strengthening defence capabilities and security mechanisms;

• faster political decisions in crisis situations;

• deeper economic and technological modernisation;

• bigger unity of the Member States in the face of external threats.

Such steps are seen as a response to Russia's war against Ukraine and the overall deterioration of the global security situation.

Why this is important for Europe

According to the head of the European Commission, without decisive reforms, the EU can:

• lose geopolitical influence;

• fall behind in technological competition;

• weaken the ability to protect their own safety.

That is why, she stressed, the time for change is critically limited.

Context.

The European Union is going through a period of large-scale transformation caused by the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis and growing global competition.

Calls for reforms and enhanced defence cooperation are increasingly being made by EU leaders as a condition for maintaining the stability of the continent.