Key Points
- EU Inc, deeper capital markets, and a unified energy market were pitched as Europe’s scale reset.
- Mercosur and India were framed as the trade spine for a rules-based counterweight to tariffs.
- Defence spending, Ukraine leverage, and Arctic planning were presented as strategic autonomy in practice.
At Davos, Ursula von der Leyen said the world has changed, so Europe must change too. “European independence,” she argued, is now a necessity.
She led with trade. She said she signed the EU–Mercosur agreement in Asunción on Saturday, a breakthrough after 25 years. The pact was described as linking 31 countries, more than 700 million consumers, and over 20% of global GDP.
India was the next anchor. She said she will travel there after Davos and that a near-term pact could be historic. Some call it the “mother of all deals,” spanning 2 billion people and almost a quarter of global GDP.
The internal programme targeted Europe’s scale problem. EU Inc, a proposed “28th regime,” would create one European company structure, enabling fully online registration within 48 hours and one capital rulebook across member states.
Europe links energy security and defence
A Savings and Investment Union would deepen markets and lower funding costs. Energy was framed as a chokepoint, with an Affordable Energy Action Plan built around grids and interconnectors.
Security supplied the hard edge. Defence spending, she said, is surging toward €800 billion by 2030. On Ukraine, she said Russia is intensifying attacks as the war nears its fourth anniversary, including strikes on energy infrastructure.
She credited President Trump with pushing talks, but said negotiations require Ukrainian strength, backed by a €90 billion EU loan for 2026–27. Russian assets, she added, will stay immobilised, with Europe reserving the right to use them.
Greenland closed the speech. Proposed additional tariffs between allies were called a mistake after a July EU–U.S. trade deal, and the promised response was “unflinching, united and proportional.”
Her Arctic package pledged solidarity with Greenland and Denmark, a European investment surge in Greenland, joint security work with Washington, a European icebreaker capability, and a European security strategy later this year built on one principle: sovereign people decide their own future.
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For the full picture, see our Mercosur EU Trade Deal: Complete Guide.