Debate: Strengthening European Defence in a volatile geopolitical landscape - Implementation of the common foreign and security policy – annual report  - Implementation of the common security and defence policy – annual report
Date: WEDNESDAY, 28 FEBRUARY 2024
Speaker: Mathieu Michel
Language: EN

Right now, two issues are urgent priorities: Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the war that has flared up once again in the Middle East. In the current geopolitical contexts, security and defence must be the top priority of Europeans. Two years ago, the Strategic Compass was proposed and launched. At that time, nobody paid a lot of attention. Now the need to strengthen our defence at EU level has become obvious to everybody. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine marks a watershed moment in European defence. Within weeks, dogmas that had stood for decades were overturned. First, the European Peace Facility was used to incentivise Member States to give more military equipment to Ukraine. Never before had the EU financed the delivery of military equipment to a country at war. So far, the EU and Member States have mobilised more than EUR 28 billion of military assistance. Later, the largest military mission in the EU’s history was launched to train the Ukrainian army. By the end of this summer, 60 000 Ukrainian soldiers will have been trained on EU soil. The training they receive is what Russia’s new recruits often lack. It significantly increases their chances of survival. But the Russian war of aggression has also highlighted the significant weaknesses resulting from 30 years of neglect in defence capacities. The weaknesses exist in terms of material, but also in terms of interoperability. Today, defence budgets are 40% higher than a decade ago, but we still have a long way to go and we all need to accelerate. We are not going to be able to play a geopolitical role if we are not able to defend ourselves. Defence is a national competence. It is the Member States that have armies. We must be able to mobilise our armies to face common threats. We have to make them work together better in order to have more interoperability, more mobility, capacity together and more coordination. We need to spend better. But spending more does not automatically mean spending better. To get the best results, we need economies of scales. To ramp up production, the European defence industry needs certainty of long-term demand. This idea is at the heart of our ammunition initiative. We need to aggregate Member States’ demand, procure jointly and support European industry in ramping up their production capacity. Through the European Defence Agency, we have put in place 60 framework contracts to place orders to the European defence industry. We must follow this example in other areas. Together with European Defence Agency, EU Ministers of Defence have already identified the key capabilities they need, ranging from ground combat capabilities and integrated air missiles defence to underwater warfare capabilities, space services, cyber defence or other strategic enablers. All this, a stronger EU defence with Member States spending more and better together, will also help strengthen NATO. Through the Strategic Compass, we are also working to make our armies more interoperable and our EU operational engagement more effective. Evacuations, such as in Afghanistan and Sudan, have shown that EU Member States often depend on outside help to protect and evacuate their citizens. We need the capacity to act with partners where possible, but also alone if needed. By 2025, we will have a Rapid Deployment Capacity allowing us to quickly deploy up to 5 000 troops in response to crisis situations. As part of this work, we conducted last October, the first live EU military exercise in Cádiz in Spain. Interoperability is also key for our CSDP mission. In this more and more volatile world, they are increasingly important to protect European security interests abroad and contribute to global and regional stability. We are already working closely together in the context of our common security and defence policy missions. Since the beginning of this legislative mandate, the EU has launched seven civilian and military missions, including last week, our new maritime security operation ASPIDES in the Red Sea. Through ASPIDES, ATALANTA and our coordinated maritime presence in the Gulf of Guinea, we are showing that the EU can act decisively when our maritime security is at risk. Other examples of our concrete operational engagement – and not only military – are the civilian missions launched last year in Armenia to contribute to stability along the border with Azerbaijan or in Moldova to strengthen their resilience against hybrid threats. Russia’s war against Ukraine has reminded us how critical traditional military capabilities, like tanks, artillery or ammunition remain, but also how much hybrid threats and space, cyber and critical infrastructure as well as information manipulation have changed the threat landscape. In the past two years, we have seen progress in building capacities in all of those areas. But we can do more. If we want to be a geopolitical player, we need to have the means. And the means start by having a strong defence capacity and a strong defence industry.