Thank you for listening to Pictures Media Radio. Welcome to Policy and Rights Show, Gosh, Welcome to Policy that Human joys Now.
Robinson Provincial Park is a very special place. You're passing towering mountains, ponderous waterfalls, and icy cold lakes that are fed by these majestic glaciers. The trail draws thousands of people from across Canada and around the globe.
Late June twenty twenty one, we started getting reports from hikers that their significant flooding happening on the Burg Lake Trail. Myself and another rangel went and investigated and noticed that river levels were rising fairly rapidly.
The following morning, there was such significant impacts to the.
Trail that we had to fly everybody over.
As we started doing the flights, we could see the impacts from the air. A few kilometers of trail was sucked into the Robson River. We could see fresh movement of debris coming down the mountain. It funneled itself down the trail and sent.
Tidal waves of water that basically destroyed ninety percent of the infrastructure on the trail. Bridges were dammed and rock covered, Entire structures that had been there for thirty years. We were so fortunate that nobody was injured overnight. Once we knew we had safely evacuated everybody off the trail, we immediately went into thinking about how.
We were going to reopen the trail.
We wanted to make sure that the new trail was going to last a long time. The Bird Lake Trail is twenty five kilometers long. Probably three quarters of it was impacted by the flood, and so there was extensive consultation to really make sure that we were covering all over. The project team for this included engineers, a geomorphologist, a geotech, construction managers, and trail specialists.
By nature, BC parks are wild places.
To be able to understand the critical components of a project and be able to address them in a meaningful way, it takes a lot of time.
Away from the get go. Everybody knew this was going to be delivered in phases. Phase one included a bunch of planning. The planning work was happening at the same time that we were doing some significant trail upgrades between the trail head and Kenney Lake. Once that was done, we went on to phase two. Phase two was completion of Kiney Lake Campground.
That phase continued on with trail construction up to the Kinney Flats intersection, and that was.
The end of Phase two.
We've always known that the Robson River is a very powerful system, but we're learning that it's also very unpredictable. So in the case that there is a heavy rainfall event, the river may be encouraged to jump out of its original channel and realign itself into a different area within that same wide floodplaine. So the river is a very dynamic system here at Mount Robson.
Wherever possible, we've tried to either eliminate river crossings or reduce the amount of time that the trail spends within
a floodplain. Practically, that means realigning the trail to a location that essentially doesn't need to cross a river wherever possible, where it's necessary to install a bridge, we have tried our best to find locations where the river is moving less quickly, and so abutments that we have installed have a better chance of survival in the case that there is a heavy rainfall and then a resulting flood.
From Phase two run on to the final phase, a significant amount of trail rebuilt that included trail work up to the Phillips Drainage, a short bit of trail constructed below Emperor Hill, and a significant reconstruction of the hard Bays fan.
There's still a chance that the river could divert out of its existing path, but with the information that we've gained and our ability to understand the system better, we'll be able to react more quickly in the future here.
Or elsewhere in class comments as well.
For us as park rangers, we're looking forward to having it open again. It's been hard to not have the trail open, mostly because we get asked every day when is it going to open. So as much as people are really wanting the trail to open up, US as park rangers are equally as excited to have people back.
Welcome back to policy and Rights Here Depictions Media Radio. I'm your host, Michael Kloggs, And in this next segment, well, we're gonna jump right in here. Negotiations for ceasefire and maybe a permanent treaty solution between Ukraine and Russia. Ukraine President of Zelenski said he hopes the US will stand strong in the face of Russian demands to lift sanctions as a condition for the ceasefire in the Black Sea.
Moscow said maritime truce announced on Tuesday to allow safe passage for commercial vessels would only begin once the Western restrictions on Russian Russian's food and fertilizer trade has been lifted. Zelenski is speaking to a panel of review in Paris with journalists from across Europe. Asked by the BBC if the US would resist pressure, and it would and I hope to God bless that they will, but we'll see.
The White House told Russian Grainy delegations that they agreed to to cease fire in the Black Sea after three days of separate talks with American officials in Saudi Arabia. It looks like they are moving forward towards some sort
of peace agreement and between Russia and Ukraine. And we're gonna have a report from the h United Nations Human Rights and they're gonna be talking about the continued settlements in the West Bank and other parts of Palestine and how they could be and sh should be seen as illegal to the to the sovereignty of in the continued talks towards a sovereignty uh with Palestine, and they continued peace towards or continued working towards peace between Palestine and
and Israel as it as it is working right now that.
Israel is.
Acting in a matter and restricting Palestinians from building permits of blocking them from In one case, it was mentioned about olive farmers were not allowed to travel to where the trees were in order to harvest their crop, which hurt the Palestinian economy because olives are one of their big exports olive trees. Of course, in the Middle East, we remember the offering of the of the olive branch as a symbol of peace and back into between the
United States and Canada. Well, mister Trump has announced a twenty five percent tariff on all things related to the auto industry. Let's see. United States President Donald Trump has announced a new import taxes on twenty of twenty five percent on cars and car parks coming into the US, in a move that threatens to widen the global trade war. Trump said that the latest terrors would come into effect the second of April, with charges on businesses importing vehicles
starting the next day. He claimed that the measure would lead to tremendous growth for the car industry, promising it would spur jobs and investments in the United States, but unless said that the move is more likely to lead to a temporary shutdown of significant car production in the United States and increase prices and strain of relations with allies. And we're gonna hear from Mark Karney because Mark Karney is in and the Liberal government is developing a fund
to help protect the Canadian auto workers. And he makes this announcement from Windsor, Ontario. And there is a significance to Windsor, Ontario, because Windsor sits one bridge across from Detroit, and they're twin cities from two different countries. As we as we know, the US auto industry is basically based in Detroit, while the Canadian auto industry is based in Win's they're Ontario. And he's gonna make a statement about a single auto part could cross the bridge between the
two cities up to six times. And when we start compounding the effect of this tariff on a on a single auto part as it as it develops into the entire car, that's a significant raisin price for us who need to buy cars. I know that that my wife and I we drive quite a bit and the need for a car and an auto parts. It isn't just the the car itself, the entire car, it's also auto parts. Cars need maintenance and that you need after market parts, and those aftermarket parts are also going to be affected
by this particular tariff. It could lead to the shutdown of the auto industry, according to Mark Karney, and he is preparing the Canadian government for the strain as he is also in an election with a fund that would aid auto workers to collect layoff pay via the government's employment insurance plan and allow them to get their applications to receive moneies before severance packages and other moneies run out, as a traditional need to happen with employment insurance in Canada.
So we're going to hear about that also. And the thing of the thing to remember the a when a country imposes a tariff, the tariff nearly directly affects the consumers in that particular country. It doesn't necessarily cause growth and investment within the United States. It could actually isolate the United States and cause people to be turned off from working with the United States as a trade partner.
We're bringing it back to again, Mark Carney, as he talks about trying to develop other trade partners and trade solutions for the auto industry that would ensure that cars and car parts can be sold as they are developed and manufactured and Canada, So we're gonna hear from other things around the world as the NATO Secretary of General as he gives a speech from Poland and talking about how Poland is leading NATO with its support by way of the GDP percentage, they by far exceed any other
country that would include Canada. And he also talks about how Canada and other countries in Europe need to step up to offering more support to NATO and increasing their GDP spending percentage to NATO and defense within their own countries. Right now, Canada is far below the requirement of at least two percent that NATO would like to see. The new Prime Minister Mark Karney is promising to increase that with efforts put forth by Bill Blair, the Defense Minister.
So let's move forward and listen to the clips as we have them.
Uh.
We have quite a few, including a UH warning to European countries to and and their citizens to be prepared for some sort of disaster or war, to happen with a lot of gunshots happening in Ukraine and a lot of unrested is happening in the Middle East. That hey, maybe they should be on the lookout for war happening or terrorist actions that could cause a disaster within their own cities.
Four hundred fifty million citizens, it's four hundred fifty million reasons.
To be better prepared.
Today's threats facing Europe are more complex than ever and they are all interconnected. For three years in Ukraine we have seen a battlefield of bumps and bullets, drones, fighterplanes, tranches and submarines. Yes, our European security is directly threatened by this.
It is also threatened by other battlefields, the.
Battle fields in our pockets or phones or computers, or power plants or banks, or supply chains or raw materials, and in the media, the social media we consumed every day. These are all battlefields and they are being recognized to threaten our European way of life and our democracies. And the EU has two ways of responding. We can stick our heads in the sand and act like it isn't happening, or we can look these threats scarcely in the eye and say this is the reality we are facing and
we will prepare. You know, Since the start of my mandate as Commissioner for Preparedness, I have visited countries here in Europe and halfway across the world Ukraine, Poland, Italy, France and even Bangladesh. And earlier this week I visited the port of Antwerp, a critical.
Area in the center of Europe for.
Mobility but also military mobility and goods. Of course, I've seen firsthand how different countries and locations prepare for emergencies depending on geopolitics or their geogeographical Also, position being prepared is certainly different from one country to another.
There is no one size fits all.
I've exchanged ideas, best practices with local authorities and experts on the ground, and these exchanges have contributed to making this strategy concrete, targeted and operational.
In the EU.
We must think different because the threats are different. We must think bigger because the threats are bigger. Also, and this strategy does precisely that. Setting out three zero it means thirty concrete actions. We are getting everyone on board in every sector, from governments, localities, institutions, businesses, to communities, citizens, and volunteers. We already have strong crisis response to but
we can no longer rely on ad hoc reactions. We must be on the front foods, more proactive, more coordinated, more systematic, detecting threats earlier and.
Acting faster as well.
That's why we are set up a new EU Crisis Coordination Hub to coordinate better when a crisis hits, and this help will build on the expertise of Emergency Response Coordinations Center the ERCC to better support member states in managing today's crisis.
And we are also biffing up our Union Civil.
Protection mechanism, the UCPM Protective Shield in times of emergency, it coordinates eight mobilizes emergency teams and delivers life saving assistance when floods but also wildfires and other disaster strike. We have done it in Spain, in Ireland, in Mozambique, in Mayat and just recently last week in North Macedonia with more than fifty burn victims of a night lab
fire being taken care of in EU hospitals. So when we get the call, we go, and I will invite you to have a look on this slide behind me. As you can see from the slide requests for assistance have grown up over ten times since the UCPM.
Started in two and two. It's there you see when it was created.
Of course, we had twenty twenty the COVID pandemy and then also twenty twenty two the war in Ukraine, which represented our largest UCPM operation. And we are active not only in Europe but also across the world and for many different types of crisis. And this clearly shows that our UCPM is more important than ever and that's why we are making it's even stronger with a help creating inside this system.
In this new.
Strategy, we are also reinforcing rescue or European safety nets. This strategy reserve helped the EU respond to every type of emergency with firefighting planes, stockpiles of vital medical, energy and transport equipment, and specialized assets against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threads. We will propose an EU white stockpiling strategy to ensure access to critical resources across the EU.
And you can discover maybe behind me, the next slides will be what rescue or strategic reserves around the European Union you see and its secret places, but you see where we have our stock piling strategy, but we will we want to upgrade them to reinforce or capacities, providing teams and experts in case of emergency. So the EU will also work with member states to make sure people have essential supplies for at least seventy two hours in a crisis. We are also getting more young people involved.
Programs like you mentioned Rosanna, like Erasmus Plus and the European Solidarity Cops will help build a new generation, aware, trained and ready to act in case of emergency. Young people also have to the know hoo to spot misinformation and all this will make our society stronger and build trust in our democracy. To conclude, I think that this is once in a generation moment for the security of Europe.
Strengthening our preparedness will be certainly an essential part of this and when we prepare together, we are safer together.
And now it's time to implement it.
I will conclude with a couple of words in French spos a pre the COVID disnev new zvoo two uh pre certain du mont byela plan de guer malo rosmos decrease the dorges, the catastrophe natural so multiple advos avec method.
Responsibility alex.
So, the strategic new develop and part the citoy uh londe vivo nivo the different the governorment univusi doligno ropulo in a croche in aproch dipren to mond consideration a king less person derria so sisa lou rope proge dupe, the solidarity pre paris u dogi alex serginity situ see a consolidi notre proge junior bassistae, prosperity.
Mercy, missie levis President, mister Vice President. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I will present to you today two reports under Agenda Items seven. I will begin with the High Commissions Report on Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including is Jerusalem and in the Occupied Syrian Golan, submitted pursuanto Human Rights Council Resolution fifty five slash thirty two. The report covers the period between one November twenty twenty three and
thirty one October twenty twenty four. Last July, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion stating that Israel's policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian territory, including the maintenance and expansion of settlements, amount to the annexation of large parts of that territory. This undermines the territorial integrity essential to the Palestinian people's right to self determination and
violates the prohibition against acquiring territory by force. The ongoing transfer of powers over the occupied Palestinian territory from the Israeli military to the Israeli government is facilitating the continued illegal advancement of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the steady integration of the occupied West Bank into the
State of Israel. The transfer of governing powers also facilitates Israel's provision of services for settlers in settlements and outposts, other institutionalized long standing patterns of systematic discrimination, segregation, oppression, domination, violence, and other inhumane acts against the Palestinian people. It will
also further institutionalize control of the occupied Palestinian territory. The August twenty twenty four findings of the ad Hoc Conciliation Commission for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination stated that the acts of segregation and i quote may amount to a situation of apartheid if no action is taken by Israel to effectively address the issues raised end
of quote, Mister Vice President. Israel took measures to transfer its civilian population to East Jerusalem and to forcibly transfer Palestinians within and from the occupied territory. There are now around seven hundred and thirty seven thousand Israeli settlers in the West Bank and almost a third of them in
East Jerusalem alone. The reporting period, steps were taken towards construction of twenty thousand housing units in new or existing Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem, while two hundred and fourteen Palestinian properties and structures were demolished. Over ten thousan three hundred units within existing Israeli settlements in other parts of the s Bank were approved, and forty nine new Israeli
outposts were established. Israel continued the legal appropriation of occupied land for Israeli settlements through declarations of state land and the establishment of military zones, nature reserves, and cultural and archeological sites. An overarching institutional and legal regime of discrimination and oppression, including of forcible addictions and house demolitions, continues to secure the forcible transfer of the Palestinian population across
the West Bank. During the reporting period, over one thousand, seven hundred Palestinian owned structures were demolished in the West Bank, resulting in the forcible displacement over four thousand, five hundred Palestinians, tripling the monthly average from the previous reporting period. The majority were demolished for reasons of lacking building permits, which are almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain, Mister Vice President.
The report documents how targeting of Palestinian's economic, social and cultural rights forms part of the correcive environment that induces their departure and may amount to forcible transfer. Livelihoods centered around olive production were particularly targeted by Israeli state and settler violence, during which half of Palestinian farmers were reportedly unable to harvest their trees due to violence and movement restrictions,
effectively destroying local Palestinian economies. Mister Vice President, the line between settler and state violence has blurred. During the reporting period, one thousand, four hundred settler related incidents resulted in casualties or property damage against Palestinians. By the end of October twenty twenty four, settler violence incident had reached one hundred and eighteen per month on average, up from one hundred and eight in twenty twenty three. Settler violence killed eleven
Palestinians and injured five hundred. Israel systematically fails to prevent or punish these attacks, leaving Palestinians bereft of any hope of obtaining justice and accountability. In a study of one hundred and seventy four incidents of settler violence, sixty five complaints were lodged and only one has led to the
filing of an indictment. During the reporting period, approximately six hundred and eighty Palestinians were forcibly displaced by settler violence access restrictions, mainly in Beduin and other herding communities in Area C. In many cases, this may amount to forcible transfer, which is a crime under international law that may give
rise to India vidual criminal responsibility. The report before you also documents Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied Syrian Golan, which continued to proceed with the support of the Israeli government in violation of its international legal obligations. Israeli authorities also continue to restrict the ability of the Syrian population to build or expand on their land, in particular in Marjdalschamps, close to the demarcation line with the Syrian Arab Republic.
The report recalls Resolution four nine seven of nineteen eighty one, in which the Security Council decided that the Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the occupied Syrian Golan is null and void and without international legal effect. Mister Vice President, Israeli settlement growth continues at an ever increasing rate, and, as found by the International Court of Justice,
constitutes ongoing internationally wrongful acts by Israel. This represents a profound failure of the International Community of States and its rules based order, including in relation to the prohibitions and annexation and discrimination, as well as to the fulfillment of
Palestinian's right to self determination. Thaigh, Commissioner for Human Rights, recommends again that Israel sees immediately all new settlement activity, evacuate all settlers from the occupied Palestinian territory, and make reparations for the damage caused by decades of illegal settlement.
Hey, no warm up, no warm up?
Good morning everyone, tun Moland, Hello everyone, thank you all for being here. It's a pleasure to be in Windsor. It's pleasure to be back. It's great to be in the home of the of the spitfires. I want to be home with the spitfires area. Yeah, go spits and actually.
Go spits there in the playoffs, right, they're going to.
Have a good run, continuing in the tradition of Al Arbor and Glen Hall and Marcel Pronovo. And it's great to be here with our two fantastic Liberal candidates, Chris Sutton and Eric Kuzmeric. And above all, it's great to be here in the home of the Canadian auto industry. You know, we're here today because of who's behind me, proud uniform uniform members, union members, men and women who
are the backbone of the Canadian auto manufacturing sector. And because they're at the backbone of that sector, they are the cornerstone of the Windsor economy and they're what make Canada strong. And we're also here because of what's over there and what it represents. The Ambassador Bridge, a bridge that for almost almost a century has stood as a symbol of cooperation and of peace. It's also been a symbol of the greatest friendship between two countries the world
has ever seen. And it's more than a symbol. It carries a quarter of all goods traded between Canada and the United States, one quarter.
Of all goods.
That is one hundred and forty billion dollars every year. It is four hundred million dollars every single day. It's an extraordinary achievement. It's an extraordinary friendship and economic partnership. Emitnan Sees Chef Alison Pois. It is check depey, quillon de pond so les change, Miss Canada, Littlestini sipan nu Kiev. President Trump's trade war has put the kinship that exists between our great nations under greater strain than at any
point in our storied histories. And his trade war is hurting and it will hurt more American consumers and workers. I see that American consumer confidences at a multi year low today, and those American workers and consumers should be President Trump's concern. But his trade war also threatens to work and hurt hard working Canadians, the people I care about,
the people we care about. It threatens union workers like those behind me from uniform those down the four to one at auto assembly plants, in Ingersoll and Oshawa and Oakville. It threatens people in Hamilton working in the steel mills, and up in the Saginay at the aluminum smelters, and like hundreds of thousands of Canadians who just want to earn a.
Good paycheck and build a good life.
It's understandable that Canadians are anxious, and that's why our new government has committed to use all of the revenues from our retaliatory tariffs against the United States, use all of those revenues to support Canadian workers. And we've already turned that commitment into action. To support workers, we have temporarily waived the one week Employment Insurance waiting period. We've changed the rules so that workers don't have to exhaust
severance pay before collecting EI. We've made it easier to access EI, and we've made it more generous. I have announced that a new Liberal government will put more money in canadians pockets through a middle class tax cut, a tax cut that will save a two income family up to eight hundred and twenty five dollars a year. Because we know we're stronger together, Because we know that and we know that we're all in this together. Healthcare in Canada is a right, not a big business like it
is across the river. Because we're all in this together. Our government has created ten dollars a day childcare for hard working families so that both partners can work.
Because we're all in it together.
We've created the Canadian Dental Care Plan that's already served one point eight million Canadians and is poised to serve more than five million more. We know we must do more, and what I want to focus on, not surprisingly, is our auto industry. Autos are our number two export in this country. It is a sector that supports one hundred and twenty five thousand jobs directly and almost another five hundred thousand jobs in related industries, many of them good
union jobs. We have over three thousand, three hundred vehicles that roll off our assembly lines every single day, and the workers who build them contribute over six million dollars in taxes every single day. Canadian auto workers don't just build vehicles, they build Canada. And our auto sector has always been there for our country. So in this time of uncertainty and need, Canada will be there for our
auto workers. That is why today I'm announcing that the new Liberal government will create the Strategic Response Fund, and this is a two billion dollar fund that will protect the jobs of workers affected by President Trump's tariffs. But it'll do much more than that. It will fortify the entire Canadian auto supply chain from raw materials to finished vehicles. Because we're not just pertect acting the present, we're looking to build the future.
We're creating new jobs.
Under our plan, we will build an all in Canada network for auto manufacturing components. Because on average, an auto part crosses that border often through that bridge, over that bridge six times before final assembly. And in a trade war, that's a huge vulnerability tariff as.
It goes into the United States each time. So what we need to do is build more.
Of those autos and more of each auto right here in Canada, in the New World. That will be an advantage that will help insulate us from President Trump's trade threats, and it will grow the economy right here in Windsor and across southwestern Ontario. There's ultimately be the Minnerjo critique from solid Economy faults Le Bonvale on a boculanti les patre atton etules de port catilise set opportunity port Le Canada. Until today, it's taken too long to get important projects done.
Projects that leverage Canada's abundance of natural resources, including critical minerals, we have to move faster to get them approved and underway. That all changes with my government to make business in this sector easier and more efficient. We will establish a first Mile Fund. We announced this last Friday with the provinces, and what this fund will do is to provide capital to build transmission and transportation networks that link extraction sites
to rails and roads. Will also establish a one window approval process that means eliminating duplicative federal requirements by recognizing provincial assessments for major projects one project, one review, and we will identify projects of national significance and accelerate the time it takes to build them. One project, one review, speed size, It's time to build now. Building will include building out critical minerals in the Ring of Fire in
partnership with indigenous peoples. It will include building out our ports, reinforcing and building the Port of Montreal and new ports like Gray's Bay in Nunavut. We will create complete supply chains for the future of our auto industry and new markets for it to sell into if Jamon gage a mobilisee de foam public la Prie or vehicle constrit O Canada in este a fan le jon Vesti small National
developed a Landresti Uttomobile Canadian. Finally, I'm committing that a new Liberal government will buy Canadian vehicles to grow our auto industry and create more good union jobs.
We we are building.
We are building Canada strong, and our actions are supporting the work of nearly half a million Canadians who work directly or indirectly in this sector. We're supporting their families, We're supporting their communities, We're supporting this great country. That's the thing that President Trump just doesn't get.
He wants to break us.
So America can own us and it will never ever happen because we don't.
Just look out for ourselves. We look out for each other.
That's what unions do, That's what the Liberal government is doing. Together, we will make Canada strong. Now there is another person who just doesn't get it, and that's Pierre Poliev cont Liberal in a compromis skills decrease in a com leadership Le Canadian pondon de moment deficid the.
Canadian Vola leadership.
Positive qui les Hassan bah Qui les Seppal. We're stronger together. Negative slogans aren't solutions. Anger is in action, division is in strength. Pierre Pouliev's approach for division sounds familiar, doesn't it. That's because, as Premier Smith said, I quote Pierre Pouliev is very much in sync with President Trump, and someone who worships Donald Trump will kneel down before him, not stand up to him. Negativity won't win a trade war, it won't pay the rent or the mortgage. And negativity
won't bring down the price of groceries. It won't protect good union jobs. Negativity won't make Canada strong. No.
Finally, this is.
The most consequential election of our lifetimes, and Canadians have a clear choice.
My government is meeting the moment with purpose, with partnership and with force.
And together, under a new Liberal government, we will build a stronger and more resilient auto industry. We will build and create more higher pain union jobs. We will build the strongest economy in the G seven.
We will build Canada strong. We'll see. Thank you very much and I look forward to your questions.
Sir.
Thank you.
Professor, Rector magnificus, Professor, good to see you again. I was just saying that the fact that Boland is now spending so much on defense is also because of the sund financial.
Policies you introduce.
You so thank you and it's great to be back in Warsaw and to see everyone here in the room and also following online. In my first piece as a Secretary General in December, I said I wanted to start a conversation with the one billion people living in Natal countries about our security. And what better place to continue that conversation than here in Poland. You are truly a leader on defense, spending four point seven percent of GDP
this year. You are a strong supporter for Ukraine and Poland has put security at the heart of your EU presidency. In my meetings earlier today I thanked President Dudah and Prime Minister Tusk not just for talking the talk, but
for walking the walk when it comes to our collective security. Now, I want to take some time with all of you to address the questions about the strength of the Transatlantic bond and to sketch out the past to our native summit in the Hague in June Following my recent discussions in Washington with President Trump, I know that things have been moving fast in recent months, and many of us feel less secure.
In this rehabdit.
Russia's war against regional and our concerns about how it will end. However it ends, Russia will remain the most significant and direct threat to our security. Russia is ramping up its defense spending and has.
Moved to a war economy.
It is rapidly rebuilding its armed forces built on Chinese technology, at by deadly Iranian drones and North Korean troops and missiles. Putin has not given up his ambition to reshape the global security order, and he is not alone. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are increasing their military corporation and exercises. Beijing is carrying out its own massive military built up, including of its nuclear.
Forces, with no limits or transparency.
What's happening in Europe matters for the Indo Pacific and vice versa. Securing lasting peace for Ukraine is essential for European security and for global stability.
The world is watching.
I welcome the President Trump has broken the deadlock with Russia and that talks are going towards a ceasefire. I also welcome that the UK and France are leading efforts to contribute to a lasting peace, which we will again discuss tomorrow in Paris. At the same time, I know there are questions about the strength of the Transatlantic Bond
and the United States commitments to European security. There is tough rhetoric, there are difficult debates between Europe and America of a trade and taris, and there are calls to revive ideas of European autonomy. Let me be absolutely clear, this is not the time.
To go it alone, not for Europe or North America.
The global security challenges are too great for any of us to face on our own. When it comes to keeping Europe and North America safe, there is no alternative to NATO. Without the US, UK, Trakiya, Canada, Norway and Iceland, it is impossible to imagine the defense of Europe and nothing can replace America's nuclear umbrella, the ultimate guaranter of
our security. A strong, tense Atlantic alliance remains the bathrole of our defense, and stronger European allies are a unique strategic asset which allows the US to promote peace through strength on the global stage. When it comes to security in defense. I am absolutely confident that the United States remains committed to NATO.
And to Article five. Don't just take my word for it.
Listen to President Trump, who has repeatedly stated his commitment to a strong NATAL, Listen to the strong bipartisan support in the US Congress, and listen to the American people, three quarters of whom support NATO according to a recent poll. I heard this again loud and clear in meetings in the White House with the President and on Capitol Hill two weeks ago. And it's not only about words, but
also about actions. US troops lead our NATAL forces here in Poland, American strategic bombers patrol, European skies and US aircraft carriers sent a message of strings at sea. Yes, Europe needs to know that Uncle Sam still has our back, but America also needs to know that its NATO allies will step up and play their full part, without restrictions and without capability gaps.
It's only fair. Reassurance is a two way street. The US commitment to.
NATO comes with a clear expectation that European allies and Canada take more responsibility for our shared security. So at our summit in the Hague, we will begin a new chapter for our trans Atlantic alliance, where we will build a stronger, fair and more lethal NATO to face a more dangerous world. A stronger NATO means investing in producing even more for our defense, a fair NATO means all
allies doing their fair share. And the more lethal NATAL means that where we will always remain a defensive alliance, we will always be ready enable to do whatever it takes to stay safe. When it comes to spending more, European allies in Canada have stapped up with huge new investments. Last year alone, they increased defense spending by twenty percent, and over the last decade they added the extra seven hundred billion for defense, and many have pledged to go
further and faster. Poland is leading the way, alongside Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, moving to spending five percent of GDP in the coming years.
The German Parliament has unlocked more than a.
Billion and extra defense and infrastructure spending. Chechia, Denmark, Sweden, France, Finland, Norway and the United Kingdom have committed to considerably remp up spending, and the European Union only last week came out with an initiative to free up to eight hundred billion for defense. All this is nothing short of a sea change for NATO's collective defense. This acceleration is absolutely necessary, and we have to keep our food on the gas.
When it comes to producing more, there is also great There are also great examples. Europe and North America are now producing millions of rounds of one to fifty five millimeter shells. New gunpowder and DNT factories are being built across the Alliance from France to Finland, and there are more fish generation fighters flying in Alliance skies than ever before.
We are also producing more together.
TAKEES thirty five, which combines American ingenuity with British no how, Italian finess and Dutch technical expertise. European companies are supporting ammunition production from Texas to Florida, and the US and Europe are building an new Patriot missile factory in Bavaria in Germany. This is the kind of industrial win win we need more of, not less of. This is how we rebuild our industry together, and this is how we create jobs and growth on both sides of the Atlantic.
There are so many opportunities to boost our tense Atlantic defense industry. Even more, there are hundreds of billions of extra euros and dollars to go around, but we must go much further and faster to remp up production across the Alliance.
The needs and the urgency are crystal clear.
Finally, European Allies and Canada are also doing more for our shared security through NATO. They lead seven of our eight multinational deployments on our eastern flank. An Italian commander leads NATO's peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, a Dutch commander leads our training and advisory mission in Iraq, and European Allies leads on NATO air policing of Iceland, the Austrian Balkans
and the Baltics. When under sea infrastructure in the Baltics sea what threatened this winter, europ and Alliance stood up in record time through NATO's Baltic Centry without the need for a single US ship. Europe and Allies in Canada are also playing a bigger role in Ukraine. Last year they provided almost sixty percent of NATO's military aid to Ukraine. NATO's commands in Germany is now coordinating security assistance and
training for Ukraine. With logistics hubs, including here in Poland and Poland also hosts NATO's Joint Analysis, Training and Education Center, a joint initiative with Ukraine to capture important lessons and innovations from this terrible work. Over the last decade, NATO
has carried out a generational transformation of our alliance. We have significantly increased our presence on our eastern flank, invested in new capabilities and military infrastructure, and revitalized our defense industry, backed by large scale exercises to demonstrate our commitments to
each other's defense. At our summit in the Hague, we will need to do even more to ensure all allies do their fair share, based on ambitious new targets for all NATAL allies, strengthening our capabilities, readiness, and deterns, including air and missile defense, long range missiles, and more ground forces. This will enable Europeans to take on a greater share of our collective defense while maintaining strong American commitments and presence in Europe.
So we know what we need to do to stay safe today and strong tomorrow.
We know exactly what forces, resources and capabilities every ally needs to provide, and we have the plans and procedures in place to defend our own nations and support Ukraine. NATO allies represent half of the world's economic and millardy might.
Two continents, thirty two nations and one billion people.
Together in NATO, Europe and North America are unbeatable today and in the future. So to our one billion people, I say this, be assured. The Transatlantic bond is strong, and yes, we will make NATRO a stronger, fair and more lethal alliance. That is how we all stay safe in a more dangerous world. So thank you and I look forward to our discussion.
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