Von der Leyen carries Canada into club as EU sinks into cost crisis: As it happened

Left group leader Manon Aubry criticized Carney’s presence in the chamber, specifically von der Leyen’s unilaterally-announced plan to give Canada ‘Associate Membership’ and deepened security collaboration with Ottawa.
“Who has given you a democratic mandate to do that?” she asked.

Valerie Hayer of Renew Europe calls for pro-European radicalism, accusing Italian PM Giorgia Meloni of hypocrisy.

Patryk Jaki of the European Conservatives and Reformists takes a six-year look at von der Leyen’s record, from 2020.

“According to data from 19 European countries, more than €4 billion was wasted on vaccines. In Poland, money spent on swingers clubs, tanning beds and pizzerias. In 2020, you promised less bureaucracy, now new recruitment for more EU staff has been announced.”

Jaki claims von der Leyen “managed to tighten bottlecaps and turn Europeans into involuntary rubbish collectors,” a clear snipe at the EU’s overbearing recycling initiatives, before accusing her of censoring the internet and claiming children need truth online.

“We’re regulating things we no longer produce and taxing things we no longer know how to make,” Bardella says. “We need a new European architecture... Let’s get rid of red tape, protect our farmers from unfair competition. Let’s free ourselves from the aggressive ideology of de-growth. The 21st century reminds us of a truth Europe has forgotten – a people that cannot defend its borders, produce its energy, and feed its children leaves its destiny to others. Today in Brussels the time has come to change things.

French MEP Jordan Bardella – president of the National Rally party – has torn into von der Leyen following her speech. “Every year we hear you glorifying what you’ve done and every year we hear Europe is about to be relaunched,” he says.

“In 2026, we have the Europe of those who write the rules, bureaucrats who waste public money, increase salaries by 49% and private jets by 59%. And then there’s the second Europe who have to pay for this, pay for petrol and heating that has risen by 50%. That is the state of the union,” Bardella says.

Bardella is scathing – saying that not only is von der Leyen’s Europe more expensive, but it protects its people less and less, citing the migrant crisis in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta.

© AP / Thomas Krych

Important note: Legally, there is no such thing as Associate EU Membership. It is not mentioned in the bloc’s founding treaties.

RECAP: Von der Leyen confirmed that unspent EU defense loans will be used to fund joint projects with Ukrainian weapons makers. Approximately €10-15 billion is available to Kiev’s corrupt arms industry, including the notorious Fire Point, about which RT has written.

“Long live Europe,” von der Leyen proclaims in English, German, and French as she concludes her address.

READ MORE: Mass Serbian public demonstrations mark Ratko Mladic burial (VIDEOS)

“We will soon be proposing road-maps for candidates that have made most progress, based on merit, and respect for our values is non-negotiable.” Von der Leyen notes her own horror at photos of the funeral of late Serbian General Ratko Mladic, who died in custody in The Hague.

The EU must also work together with Ukraine “to reduce our dependency on a single supplier” of air defense systems, von der Leyen says.

The recently launched Freyja project, aimed at developing a European-made alternative to US-made Patriots, “is only the beginning. More is needed,” she stresses.