‘Brutal, harsh, unforgiving’: EU leader offers bracing message to Australia

March 24, 2026 — 3:49pm

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Europe’s defacto leader came to celebrate a seemingly good news story - the signing of a sweeping free trade deal with Australia - but there was no avoiding the dire state of global affairs when Ursula von der Leyen visited Canberra on Tuesday.

In the first speech to federal parliament by a female world leader, the European Commission president peppered her address with references to drinking flat whites, sampling pavlova and the “hard yakka” of trade negotiations.

However, these were mere sprinkles of levity atop a bracing message of turmoil and disruption.

“The world we live in is brutal, harsh and unforgiving,” von der Leyen said. “It feels upside down. What we knew as certainties are in question. The comfort blanket of yesterday is ripped away. It is confronting.”

Thomas Hobbes’ famously pessimistic description of life without government as “nasty, brutish and short” came instantly........

© The Sydney Morning Herald