Canada in the EU and other takeaways from State of European Union

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has laid out her bold vision for a strengthened, revitalised, united Europe and has invited a new name to the party: Canada.

Ms von der Leyen covered a large range of topics in a 73-minute annual "state of the union" address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, leading off with the opening line from Charles Dickens' Tales of Two Cities, which she said also described the world today. 

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," she said.

Here are five key takeaways from her speech.

Oh, Canada!

Ms von der Leyen said the European Union was opening the door for Canada to become its first associate member.

"We want to bring the relationship with Canada to the highest level possible," she said. 

"So, I would like to work with you on opening the door for Canada to be the first associate member of the EU."

Ms von der Leyen walked up to and embraced Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who she had invited to the address, after mentioning Canada's "associate membership" and he received a standing ovation from the chamber.

It will be up to the 27 EU member states whether Ms von der Leyen's proposal goes ahead.

The EU has historically resisted such types of flexible alliances that have no legal status. 

EU members were lukewarm in reacting to Germany's proposal in May of associate membership for Ukraine as a stepping stone to full membership.

New security council 

The European Commission chief also pitched setting up a "European Security Council" with countries including Britain and Ukraine, as the continent grapples with the threat from Russia.

"For a long time, we have discussed a leaders' format focused on the security of our continent, with partners like Canada, Norway, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and others involved," Ms von der Leyen said.

"This is even more urgent now, given the nature and scale of the risks at play. 

"This is why we will set out our ideas to make a European Security Council a reality."

Europe is grappling with what it calls a campaign of "hybrid attacks" by Moscow aimed at undermining support for Ukraine, including recent attacks on Lithuania, Denmark and a Russian strike on the Ukraine–Poland border that just missed a train carrying diplomats, including former British prime minister Boris Johnson and former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt.

"We should be under no illusions about what is happening here: hybrid threats facing Europe are less and less hybrid and less and less threats," Ms von der Leyen said.

"Europe needs its own counter-hybrid playbook. 

"We urgently need a consensus on how to respond to certain incidents: Those which fall below armed aggression but clearly threaten our national security."

The European Commission president said she wanted to establish an "emergency security protocol" that would allow any EU member state to convene urgent talks in case of crisis.

'Strongest ever' support for Ukraine

While the EU is struggling to counter Russian activities, Ms von der Leyen pledged that the bloc would ramp up support for Kyiv as Russia steps up bombardments ahead of the winter.

"We will give our strongest-ever support to Ukraine over the toughest winter of the war," she said.

"Together with our partners, we will provide humanitarian aid and reinforce Ukraine's supplies of power and heating."

Ms von der Leyen backed plans to jointly "develop with Ukraine an affordable, modular missile-defence system".

She said that Europe would also step up its efforts to develop its own key military capabilities, pledging a "new European instrument for strategic enablers".

Strengthened trade and manufacturing

Ms von der Leyen said she would like Europe to build "an alliance for the future, to create a common prosperity" and economic security. 

"We will work on intelligent manufacturing," she said.

"We will create a tech alliance. We will integrate defence industrial bases. 

"We will make the Arctic a flagship joint project."

She said the EU would work on energy critical minerals and batteries, on AI, quantum, cyber and economic security. 

"This is not a partnership against anyone else, but for our common strengths," Ms von der Leyen said.

Slow down on AI and social ban for kids

Despite calling for more European technological advances, Ms von der Leyen said she supported the recent calls from tech leaders for a slowdown on AI.

Last week, AI researcher Jacob Coxon quit tech company Anthropic, saying those building the technology "earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade".

And earlier this week, AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton and Anthropic's Dario Amodei both called for a global slowdown in AI development.

"Models being developed will allow hacking on a level we never thought possible," Ms von der Leyen said.

"And they will soon be in the hands of adversaries who see the world very differently from us."

She pointed to recent incidents of rogue AI agents and warnings from developers.

"CEOs of the most advanced companies tell us that it is time to slow down on the self-recursive models, to pace the frontier," Ms von der Leyen said. 

"If the people developing the technology are clear, then we should be too."

Landmark EU rules governing the use of AI adopted recently put Europe in the position to shape global efforts to tackle the risks, Ms von der Leyen said.

She said Europe would work with like-minded partners such as Canada, the United Kingdom and others to take measures such as model evaluation, verification and AI security.

"I will invite the main frontier labs for a discussion on how we can support ongoing industry efforts to pace the frontier," von der Leyen said.

She also proposed a social media ban for children under 13 — similar to Australia's world-first ban for kids under 16 — and no personal accounts for people under the age of 15, saying that platforms have to prove that they are safe for children.