Von der Leyen thundered to the diplomats: the EU’s foreign policy must change

President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyeniä has recently been criticized for playing a too visible role as the head of the EU’s foreign policy. According to diplomatic sources, von der Leyen has begun to appear as if she were the EU’s highest foreign policy representative.

Criticism has not silenced the chairman of the commission. On Monday, von der Leyen gave a stern speech to EU ambassadors, insisting that the EU’s foreign policy must change.

In his speech at the ambassadors’ conference, Von der Leyen said that the second week-long Middle East crisis is just one example of the vulnerable situation Europe is in, and watching things from the sidelines is no longer enough.

“The idea that we can simply retreat from this chaotic world is a delusion,” he warned.

According to von der Leyen, Europe must see the world as it is, not as it would like it to be.

According to the president of the commission, the EU must also critically examine its own structures and decision-making. He asked whether the EU’s consensus-based foreign policy decision-making is more beneficial or detrimental to the Union’s geopolitical credibility.

Von der Leyen said that Ukraine is a measure of how credible the EU can be in its foreign policy. At the moment, the situation does not look good, because Hungary is blocking the progress of the 90 billion euro support package promised to Ukraine, even though the matter was already agreed upon.

According to Von der Leyen, the current EU foreign policy system was built in a post-war world that emphasized stability, and its tools may no longer work.

“We have to look at our foreign policy realistically,” von der Leyen said and emphasized that the EU must also be able to act.

The chairman of the commission put broad security thinking at the center of the activity: “From defense to data and from industry to infrastructure.”

The chairman of the commission reminded that trade and investments have also become key geopolitical instruments. He said that trade “is not only economy, but also power”, and highlighted the EU’s rapidly growing network of trade agreements as a positive thing.

In diplomacy, von der Leyen emphasized that the EU must be an active actor and not a bystander. He emphasized the EU’s support for the UN, but reminded that in order to solve crises, new forms of diplomacy are also needed, in which Europe must participate.

At the end of his speech, von der Leyen said that Europe is faced with a choice.

“In our time, when the world is changing radically, we can either cling to what used to make us strong, or we can choose a different future for Europe.”

Von der Leyen told the diplomats that he would like the EU to have a foreign policy that makes Europe internally stronger, internationally more influential and a reliable partner for others.