PARIS, August 27. /TASS/. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen admitted that the EU’s economic prosperity, previously buttressed by cheap Russian energy and flourishing trade ties with China, is in the rear-view.

"We live in a world of uncertainty as the rules of the game are changing," she told a business forum in Paris. "For a long time, the European economic model relied on several obvious things: imported (from Russia - TASS) cheap sources of energy, free global trade, growing access to the Chinese market, strategic protection by the US, and the West’s technological leadership. Those obvious advantages are gone," von der Leyen added.

She chose not to point out that the disruption of global trade and the blocking of energy supplies from Russia were a direct result of sanctions drafted by the European Commission, but promised that the EC would help save European businesses.