Von der Leyen questions Europe’s faith in rules-based order
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The EU must decide whether the rules-based international order “is more a help or a hindrance to our credibility as a geopolitical actor”, the bloc’s top official said on Monday, in the strongest sign yet that it might break from decades of rigid adherence to global norms.
In a speech to the European Union’s ambassadors, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen used her most forceful rhetoric to date to call time on the old system, urging the diplomats to quickly update their thinking or be left behind.
“Europe can no longer be a custodian for the old world order, for a world that has gone and will not return,” von der Leyen said.
“We will always defend and uphold the rules-based system that we helped to build with our allies, but we can no longer rely on it as the only way to defend our interests or assume its rules will shelter us from the complex threats that we face.”
The call comes as war rages in the Middle East, triggered by US and Israeli strikes on Iran that were broadly seen as a breach of international rules.
Von der Leyen did not condemn the attacks in her speech, instead saying “there should be no tears shed for the Iranian regime” and speaking of an “existential” and “precarious” moment for Europe.
“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 – have kept pace with the speed of change around us,” von der Leyen said.
She questioned whether the post-war architecture that Europe helped to build “with all of its well-intentioned attempts at consensus and compromise – is more a help or a hindrance to our credibility as a geopolitical actor”.
“I know this is a stark message and a difficult conversation to have. But I also know that many of you have felt this tension in your everyday work. The point is that, if we believe – as I do – that we need a more realistic and interest-driven foreign policy, then we need to be able to deliver on it.”
Von der Leyen’s speech follows similar messages in recent weeks from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, both spurred by the radical lurch in the United States under President Donald Trump.
The commission chief went on to repeat calls for a more independent Europe, pointing to work already done to de-risk from “a single supplier for vital assets – from energy to defence, semiconductors to vaccines, clean tech to raw materials”.
“But we need to go further. We need to be prepared to project our power more assertively. For instance, to counter aggression and foreign interference with all of our tools – whether economic or diplomatic, technological or military,” von der Leyen said.
With the EU on a major push to sign trade deals to diversify away from the US and China, she said “two-thirds of global growth is happening” beyond the two superpowers, and that countries elsewhere “are looking for their place in the world” – creating an opportunity for Europe.
Preparations are already under way for a “European Security Strategy”, an approach that will be the cornerstone of von der Leyen’s vision.
“Security must become the organising principle of our action. This must be the default mindset – from defence to data, from industry to infrastructure, from tech to trade,” she said.
