EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will lay out her vision of the state of the European Union in her annual speech on Wednesday (16 September) in the European Parliament in Brussels.
In a sign of deepening ties with the EU, amid Ottawa’s split with Washington, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney will attend as a guest of honour and then deliver his own address to MEPs on Thursday (17 September).
This visit comes ahead of an EU-Canada summit at the end of October and amid the escalating trade war between Canada and the US, after the Trump administration imposed duties of up to 50-percent on Canadian products worth roughly $20bn [€17.26bn] and Ottawa’s responded with counter-tariffs.
The commission president’s speech will launch the autumn political semester in the EU, and von der Leyen is expected to address security, migration, competitiveness and climate.
She is also expected to explain her plans to restrict teenagers’ access to social media in a bid to protect minors online, which the commisison will unveil already on Tuesday (15 September).
