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European Council president to call for creating European Security Council — media

According to an article in Euractiv, Ursula von der Leyen will announce the proposal in her annual State of the European Union address in Strasbourg on Wednesday

BRUSSELS, September 16. /TASS/. European Council President Ursula von der Leyen will call for establishing a European Security Council in her annual State of the European Union address in Strasbourg on Wednesday, the Euractiv news website reported, citing a draft of the speech.

Von der Leyen is expected to call on the leaders of the EU, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Norway, Canada and other countries to convene in a new format to coordinate responses to mounting security threats. "We will set out our ideas to make a European Security Council a reality," the draft speech reads, according to Euractiv.

It is unclear how NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and US President Donald Trump would react to the initiative because the European Security Council "would emerge as a potential rival to NATO," the media outlet noted.

In addition, von der Leyen’s proposals include the creation of a new "security protocol" modeled on NATO’s Article 4, which an EU member state could trigger in order to convene all others, Euractiv added. In her speech, the European Commission chief will also "pitch Canada as a key partner for Europe."

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