EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wants to strengthen Europe militarily in close cooperation with NATO. To this end, the EU Commission is preparing a joint declaration with the transatlantic defense alliance – with the USA as the leading power – said von der Leyen in her State of the Union address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday.
At the same time, the German politician announced that the EU would double its contribution to global nature conservation in order to combat the loss of biodiversity. The recipients of the aid are the weakest countries in the world, said von der Leyen. For the years up to 2027, she named an additional four billion euros.
The European Union also wants to donate 200 million more corona vaccine doses for poorer countries, as von der Leyen also announced in her second State of the Union address in Strasbourg. Von der Leyen spoke of an “investment in solidarity and an investment in global health”. The EU has thus almost doubled its donation pledges to a total of 450 million vaccine doses. Von der Leyen called the fight against the corona pandemic “one of the great geopolitical questions of our time”. She stressed that so far “less than one percent of the doses worldwide have been given in low-income countries”. The President of the Commission also pointed out that the EU is investing one billion euros in promoting vaccine production in Africa.
