EU must assert independence with arms spending and Ukraine accession, says von der Leyen

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday Europe needed to assert independence with greater defense spending and by bringing Ukraine into the EU.

“The next great era, our next great unifying project must come from an independent Europe,” she said in the German city of Aachen in her acceptance speech of the Charlemagne Prize for European unification. “To build an independent Europe, we must throw off our shackles,” she added.

In a nod to growing European concerns about overreliance on the U.S., von der Leyen cast independence as the next phase in a row of historic European projects such as securing peace after World War II, shaping a common market and currency, and reuniting Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989.