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EUROPE NEEDS TO MOVE FASTER IN DIGITAL AGE

by PETER THOMAS BUSCH

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ne of the most influential leaders in the world reinforced the need to refurbish a modern Europe for the benefit of the Europeans of the near future – and thereby avoid the pending dystopias of the era.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spun tales of the neverending summer and the resilience of Europeans to continue on despite the obvious challenges, in her State of the Union Address from Strasbourg, France on Wednesday, September 16, 2026.

Mrs. von der Leyen has been President of the European Commission since 2019.

European industry has broken from the toxic dependency of Russian fossil fuels and transformed industrial policy while upholding the distinctiveness of the European social model, according to President von der Leyen.

“Europe is there for Europeans, and in the cold fragility of today’s world only Europe can provide true serenity for Europeans,” she said.

The European Commission President said people must put aside old assumptions and show the world that nothing can divert Europeans from the ability to act.

“Europeans are not proxies and puppets of the autocrats”, and that member states must stand up to the captains of big tech who have captured the world’s children.

Europe has a single market for goods and labour, a strategic peace initiate begun to end the wars among neighbouring states, following the destruction and loss of life and Holocaust of World War II.

President von der Leyen declared the European economic and political union strong, but then she qualified that past success by encouraging everyone concerned to move faster in today’s digital economies.

Everyone must act faster, including all the institutions. “We need to move much faster,” stated President von der Leyen.

The European Union has been transitioning from a reliance on fossil fuels to clean energy, which includes renewable sources of energy and nuclear fuel. The EU has set a goal of doubling electrical power by 2040, which will reduce dependency on outside fossil fuel sources by $260 billion Euros per year.

And China is everywhere, even in Europe where Europeans run a $1billion Euro per day trade deficit with China. President von der Leyen states that this imbalance with China leads to deindustrialization in Europe.

The European Commission has entered into a dialogue on trade with China to correct the imbalance. “We will use all the tools at our disposal to rebalance our relationship with China, stated President von der Leyen.

Europe depends on China for 80% of certain minerals required for industry and 90% of rare earth minerals required for tech items and electric vehicles.

President von der Leyen announced a new European corporation on raw materials to create a mineral reserve.

The other dystopia discussed referenced the rise of artificial intelligence in a digital tech frontier like President von der Leyen had watched the original movie of West World, starring Yul Brynner as an android cowboy in an amusement park, and all those episodic tech spinoffs such as Logan’s Run.

President von der Leyen also praised tech start-ups emerging on the future’s horizon, along which the European Commission has invested, although President von der Leyen spoke so hesitantly of tech hacking as if the 660 hectares that burned to the ground in the firestorms last summer had distracted her. Crops have been lost and key rivers are disappearing, as first witnessed by a generation living within the climate crisis.

“Europe, can, must and will stay the course on our climate targets,” President von der Leyen stated, referring to the “never ending summer” for the farmers who lost crops to the wildfires.

President von der Leyen though also spoke of promise and the benefits of artificial intelligence to the factories and hospitals of Europe, serving the people to the benefit of society.

“AI needs to assist our doctors, not replace them,” according to President von der Leyen. “We want AI with European agency.”

President von der Leyen also spoke of rebuilding Europe’s partnerships around the world to prepare for the more competitive digital age.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was present, as Canada was invited to become Europe’s first associate member state, which was offered as a symbol of the enduring friendship between Europeans and Canadians.

Europe and Canada believe in democracy – and that democracy is not exclusively for the rich and powerful. President von der Leyen stated that Europe and Canada have a common prosperity and security space, whose partnership therein must be brought to the highest level possible.

President von der Leyen also spoke of the need to protect Europe’s borders from the illegal migration that is engineered and weaponized by human smugglers and drug traffickers.

Belonging to a common home is very important to Europeans and that shared society of common values must be protected, President von der Leyen declared.