Speech by Commissioner Hoekstra at an event organised by De Tijd and L'Echo on 'The Future of Europe'

Speech by Hoekstra at an event organised by De Tijd and L'Echo on 'The Future of Europe'

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... HomePress corner Speech by Hoekstra at an event organised by De Tijd and L'Echo on 'The Future of Europe'

Available languages: English Speech Jan 29, 2026 Brussels 14 min read

Speech by Commissioner Hoekstra at an event organised by De Tijd and L'Echo on 'The Future of Europe'

"Check against delivery"

Dames en Heren,

En in het bijzonder meneer de minister President, beste Bart,

Mesdames et Messieurs,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Truly appreciate the opportunity to be here tonight.

And special thanks to Dirk Velghe for being behind this event's long-running success.

When I was preparing for this speech, I found myself thinking about tijd /or time, that peculiar thing that plays such a hugely important role in our lives, yet always seems to slip through our fingers.

Complaints and worries about the times we live in have always been part of human existence.

Cicero famously uttered the words: ‘O tempora, O mores' – ‘Oh the times, Oh the customs' – as he lamented the decline of the Roman Republic.

It is a timeless sentiment: every generation thinks that the challenges it faces are unprecedented and larger than ever before.

I'm sure many of us here can connect to that idea.

But then, think about what past generations had to overcome: the devastation of the First World War, and thereafter: the horrors of fascism, communism and the threat of nuclear destruction during the Cold War.

On the one hand, that should put our own problems into perspective.

At the same time, it is true that what we're experiencing today is a titanic shift: a fundamental rupture of an old, accustomed system and the beginning of something new and unknown.

And it would defy reality if I did not address the transatlantic situation head on.

I'll be honest with you.

I loved the US.

Growing up, I heard few words said with more respect by my grandparents than the word ‘Americans'.

I've been a lifelong student of American history, diplomacy, politics and business.

I worked for an American company for more than a decade.

I've always admired America's ability to bounce back, their knack for innovation and their huge contribution in the fields of science and human development.

And of course, we, here in Europe, have tremendously benefited from our joint endeavour with the US to push the boundaries of security, prosperity and liberty.

At the same time, it is equally true that the US' long-term interests have been well served by these collaborative efforts.

It has been win-win.

That the US, in recent years, has wanted to course correct some elements, I fully understand.

That the Americans ask for burden sharing from allies on defence spending, rightly so.

That there is a pivot towards Asia longer term, strategically fully makes sense.

But the whole contempt for the transatlantic marriage, playing blackjack with it, shows, in my view, a lack of understanding of what the last 80 years has brought not just us but also the US itself.

It brought them security, prosperity and liberty just as well.

It brought them a system where they were the top dog, but at the same time drew in other powers like Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Japan that might otherwise have become costly rivals.

Yes, we are back from the brink on Greenland.

For now.

But convincing one ally to not invade another in a defensive alliance is not exactly a victory worth celebrating.

And let's acknowledge the constant barbs for what they are: they are offensive and deliberately insulting towards Europe, Member States, individuals, quite often European Prime Ministers and Presidents elected by European citizens.

Comments last week disregarding the ultimate sacrifice made by European Soldiers in American wars were a new low.

The broader point is,

I fail to see how both the policy and the language serve America's long-term interests.

In fact, I'm convinced it's a consequential mistake.

Because who stands to gain the most from all of this? It's Beijing and Moscow.

But as much as I deem it unwise, I'm convinced that we have to assume that at least part of this rift is permanent.

Let's have no illusions.

Let's assume we're stepping into the unknown, venturing into unchartered territory or what Bart de Wever might call, Terra Nova.

What makes the situation with our American friends all the more tragic is that we're facing a range of fundamental, long-term challenges that are simply better addressed with close partners.

We have pressure on all sides.

Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Assertiveness and aggression in the Indo-Pacific.

Escalating cyber threats, sabotage and intellectual property theft by state and non-state actors.

Chinese economic coercion, with complicated, multi-layered and far-reaching consequences for our economies and security.

Add to that climate change, which has moved front and centre into an economic and security reality with decades-long implications, likely to get worse before it gets better.

And then, there's the rapid pace of technological advancements, particularly in AI, which will bring about huge economic and social change.

Change I'm sure our societies are not nearly prepared for.

All of these are global developments, are just as relevant for North America as they are for us.

And on top of that, Europe faces two additional challenges: sluggish economic growth and fundamental problems in the domain of migration and social integration.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This is a daunting combination of challenges, that I believe, the world – and Europe in particular – is up against.

I'm sure, many of you, like me, feel a degree of anxiety today.

But there is simply no alternative than to measure up to the task,

To act,

And to do so,

With power and confidence,

In order to shape the Future of Europe.

A world of hard power

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In today's world of hard power, strengthening our security and defence is our number one priority.

Geopolitical and geoeconomic weakness simply is provocative.

That has always been the case.

The only difference is that today, in this world of tectonic geopolitical shifts, we're being reminded of it again and again – by friends, foes and those in between.

And we are reminded by them, just as well, that appeasement never works.

Sometimes that's hard to grasp here in Europe and in a country like Belgium, or my own, where we are taught to value compromise.

But with many on the international stage who take maximalist positions, it's simply different.

The risks posed by Russia are well known and understood.

Most people today recognise Russia for what it is: a country with a history of aggression towards its neighbours.

So the war in Ukraine must end in failure for Putin.

And we have no alternative than to continue to support our Ukrainian friends as they rebuild as a nation.

More broadly, going forward, Europe needs to do two things:

We simply have to prepare for a future where we are increasingly on our own.

That means spending more on defence, rearming, making our military systems interoperable and building a stronger defence industry, predominantly made in Europe.

It means reducing our reliance on non-EU suppliers, particularly the US, for defence equipment.

But the reality is, of course, that this cannot be done overnight.

We need quite a degree of pragmatism in terms of timing.

But it needs to happen.

It also means being more assertive in our defence against the great threats posed by hybrid warfare.

Russia is increasing the drumbeat, with reckless provocations and hybrid campaigns, starting with violations of EU airspace.

State-backed cyber-attacks from others also increasingly target critical networks and infiltrate high-tech sectors such as semi-conductors and aerospace.

So let's move to attribution, and from attribution to retaliation.

Let's double down on protecting our infrastructure, from our energy systems to our undersea cables.

And let's dramatically increase the cost on those responsible for destabilising our societies.

It might sound like a paradox, but at the same time we're preparing for a world in which we're on our own, we must go all out in our engagement to continue to build bridges – with the Americans, with others in NATO and beyond.

We need to do this with a clear-eyed realism and a sober understanding of the limitations of engagement.

We will not be chasing an illusion.

But we will be engaging because it is in our own interest to see what part of the marriage with the Americans can be saved.

Climate, competitiveness, independence

Moving on from geopolitics, defence and security, the second top priority for Europe is an agenda that much more strongly combines climate, competitiveness and independence.

Some of you may assume that climate change has taken a backseat lately.

Yes, climate action is making fewer headlines,but the fact that we're not talking about it, unfortunately doesn't make the impact go away.

As I said earlier, it's very much in the economic and security domain.

Please forget the conversation about saving the bees and the trees.

This is about us.

This is about our ecosystem, our way of life, our economies.

Fundamentally, it's about money and a price tag that keeps going up, unfortunately especially in Europe.

We are the fastest-warming continent, with temperatures rising at roughly twice the global average since the eighties.

So yes, we're staying the course on climate to mitigate the damage climate change is doing to our societies and economies.

But we're also staying the course because, more than any other continent, we are wrestling with two additional vulnerabilities: competitiveness and independence.

Europe is rich in many ways, but we are poor in natural resources.

And the cost of that is huge.

Every year, we spend around 400 billion euros importing oil and gas.

This is the main reason why energy prices are so much higher for our industry, roughly double compared to the US.

Bringing these prices down is a must.

But it's not just about energy.

Dependency has also spread to other areas.

We rely heavily on China for refining and processing of critical raw materials and clean tech imports.

This is closely tied to Beijing's deliberate and sophisticated strategy to make us ever-more dependent – on them.

All of which is becoming more concerning, as China uses these chokeholds more aggressively.

So what we need to do is invest in the clean transition, in a way which moves us away from all these dangerous dependencies.

On top of that, there is the competitiveness dimension.

Clean technologies are among the fastest-growing global markets, and global capital is moving decisively in that direction.

This is the future.

And it will arrive at our doorstep.

It's simply a race we cannot afford to lose.

This is why this Commission launched the Clean Industrial Deal for Europe last year: to give European business better market incentives and policy signals they need to invest in the clean transition.

So we're doubling down on investment in clean tech, in batteries, in innovation, and in grids.

We're investing massively in wind power, as you might have seen at the North Sea Summit a couple of days ago.

We're pushing radical simplification, cutting red tape for business and speeding up permitting for renewable projects.

We're creating lead markets in order to bring down so-called green premiums.

We're working to build up decarbonised industrial production made here in Europe.

With our forthcoming Industrial Accelerator Act, we'll further speed up the transition with made in Europe and public procurement components.

And finally, we will be enhancing the level playing field for EU businesses.

I have always been – more than many others in the political arena – pro-open markets and pro free competition, and I still am.

But today's world unfortunately is not the world of the nineties.

The level playing field quite often simply is not there, certainly not in the case of China.

Which is why we're taking measures to de-risk our economy and our industry.

We're using trade defence measures.

And we're diversifying our supply chains.

So this is the agenda:

Climate, competitiveness and independence – never again one without the other.

And while we've made some real headway, I fully recognise we're just getting started.

More, much more, on all these dimensions, is needed.

A strong economic engine

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The cost of ramping up our defence comes with a hefty price tag.

Doubling down on clean tech is a fantastic investment, but it also comes with significant costs.

And let's not forget ongoing funding needs of essentials like education, healthcare, police and domestic security, plus the critical investment needed in AI and tech.

Yet, the reality is, that we're a continent struggling with low growth, high debt and little innovation.

That must change.

Economic growth – sustainable economic growth – is the only way to square the circle of the set of crises we are facing today.

It's the engine that will make it possible.

So here you have the third top priority: we have no choice than to become the world's most formidable economic powerhouse once again.

But that is going to come with some hard choices.

It means implementing Draghi and Letta in full.

It means implementing a vast number of economic reforms, which to a large extent are mentioned in the so-called country-specific recommendations for Member States.

These are published every year by the Commission, covering areas like pension and labour market reforms to judiciary reforms and measures to boost productivity.

Their most important feature however is that they're completely ignored!

And I acknowledge that this is hard politically.

But it is simply necessary economically.

It also means more trade deals.

Yesterday Mexico and Indonesia.

Today India – fantastic what we've just achieved here, thanks to the work done personally by President von der Leyen and Commissioner Šefčovič.

And tomorrow hopefully Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia.

We need to keep moving in this direction.

And that especially means getting Mercosur done.

Because what we saw