21:23 - 15.06.2026
June 15, Fineko/abc.az. Speaking at a joint press conference during the G7 Summit in France, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa delivered a firm stance on the bloc's geopolitical priorities, addressing sanctions, trade imbalances, and supply chain security.
According to ABC.AZ, tracking European macroeconomic updates, von der Leyen welcomed the recent US-Iran stabilization understanding but explicitly noted that EU sanctions rooted in human rights abuses and weapons of mass destruction will not be lifted until verified behavioral changes occur on the ground.
Key Corporate and Macroeconomic Developments:
China Trade Imbalance: Highlighting 2025 as a historic turning point, von der Leyen revealed that for the first time, every single EU member state ran a trade deficit with China. The combined EU-China trade deficit hit an unprecedented €360 billion. The EU plans to mitigate this risk by expanding free trade networks and neutralizing over-reliance on China for critical raw materials.
Bypassing the Strait of Hormuz: Citing the Middle East crisis as a vital energy security lesson, the EU is establishing and constructing resilient alternative export routes to structurally reduce shipping exposure via the Strait of Hormuz.
€15 Billion Defence Initiative: Under the joint European defence financing initiative (SAFE), the EU will finalize a €15 billion defence credit agreement with France.
AI and Social Media Regimes: The G7 will coordinate strict pre-deployment testing for frontier artificial intelligence models. Furthermore, citing online youth safety risks, von der Leyen backed mounting global arguments to delay or tightly restrict children’s access to social media platforms.
