The EU must rethink its institutions, says von der Leyen

The European Union must be prepared to assert its power more decisively, as it can no longer rely solely on a ‘rules-based’ system to protect its interests. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said this in a speech on Monday.

‘We will always defend and uphold the rules-based system that we have helped to build with our allies, but we can no longer rely on it as the only way to defend our interests, nor assume that its rules will protect us from the complex threats we face,’ she said.

Von der Leyen also stressed that security must become a fundamental principle. ‘We urgently need to reflect on whether our doctrine, our institutions and our decision-making, all designed in a post-war world of stability and multilateralism, are keeping pace with the speed of change around us,’ she said.

‘We must ask whether the system we have built, with all its well-intentioned attempts at consensus and compromise, is helping or hindering our credibility as a geopolitical actor,’ she added.

(reuters, max)