European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is set to deliver her annual "state of the Union" address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, presumably because someone has to say the word "Union" out loud once a year and check if it still applies.

This year's speech comes with a special guest: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who will be in attendance as Canada seeks closer ties with the EU on defence, digital regulation, and trade - largely because its southern neighbour, US President Donald Trump, keeps issuing outright repeated threats. Nothing says "special relationship" quite like a guest list driven by mutual self-preservation. Carney will also address the European Parliament on Thursday.

The speech is expected to begin within 10-15 minutes, as the European Parliament's Hemicycle in Strasbourg fills up ahead of time, which is the parliamentary equivalent of a theatre filling up for a play everyone has already read the reviews for.

The list of challenges facing the bloc is, as ever, growing longer rather than shorter. Security is set to be a key theme, following an increasingly aggressive Russia and incidents this week involving Denmark, Lithuania, and Poland - a trio of countries that would probably prefer not to be mentioned in the same sentence as "incidents."

Also on the agenda: Europe's competitiveness and its standing in a global race dominated by superpowers like China and the US, plus the rise of nationalism and populism across the continent and beyond - because nothing says "unity" like a continent-wide trend toward not wanting to be united.

Expect updates on other major priorities too: digital regulation, with a sharp focus on online safety; migration, following the Ceuta crisis in late July; and climate and energy in the wake of another record-breaking summer, which is the kind of record nobody wants to break but everyone keeps breaking anyway.

Plenty to cover. It's Wednesday, 16 September 2026, and this is Europe Live.