Von der Leyen carries Canada into club as EU sinks into cost crisis: as it happened

The EU bloc chief used her usual mix of stories and bold statements to call for more power and cash

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called for more EU power over security, social control, and militarization, while announcing tighter restrictions on Russia and avoiding Israel, during her sixth state of the union set-piece.

Key calls include:

• A new security architecture that extends beyond the EU to include the UK and Canada
• Further militarization of the EU and unilateral diversion of unused loan funding to Kiev 
• Rebooting nuclear power generation, despite having overseen the shutdown of the industry 
• Radical investment in AI and the required energy grid to support it
• An EU kids act to restrict access to social media and more censorship by her own online team

In the presence of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, a former Bank of England chief and a poster-boy for an anti-Trump posturing, von der Leyen unilaterally announced that Canada would be granted 'Associate Membership' – a status without any legal definition. 

Carney had, according to the Financial Times this morning, hoped for more. 

here is 

READ MORE: The State of the EU: What von der Leyen won’t say in her speech