Debate: The EU’s Foreign, Security and Defence Policy after the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Date: TUESDAY, 7 JUNE 2022
Speaker: Valdis Dombrovskis
Language: EN

Honourable Members, the EU strongly stands with Ukraine and supports it politically, militarily, humanitarianly and economically. Our political and military commitment is absolutely clear and reiterated last week by the European Council. Our words are matched by deeds. We adopted the largest set of sanctions in EU history. Only last week, leaders welcomed the sixth package of sanctions against Russia to cover crude oil as well as petroleum products. The leaders also welcomed the new increase in military assistance to Ukraine. The Europe of tomorrow will emerge from the battlefields of Ukraine. This is why, since the beginning of the war, we have supplied EUR 2 billion in assistance to the Ukrainian armed forces through the European Peace Facility. This is unprecedented. Second, on EU security and defence, I fully subscribe to the report’s call for making genuine progress in foreign policy and defence cooperation at Union level. Russia’s unprovoked military aggression against Ukraine and wider threats to European and global security made it even more evident. This is an attack also on Europe and the whole democratic world. We need to be more united and more capable to act. For this, we need first and foremost to strengthen our defence capabilities. This is what EU leaders discussed last week, building on the defence investments gap analysis that the High Representative has presented jointly with the Commission. The message is clear: we need not only to invest more in defence but also invest better, which means together in a coordinated way. Between 2009 and 2018, the EU has accumulated an under expenditure of around EUR 160 billion, an underinvestment of around EUR 44 billion. Since 2018, figures have gone up and are expected to grow further following recent announcements. Yet, collaborative defence investments are still too low. Only 11% in 2020 and down to 8% in 2021. So, far below the agreed benchmark of 35%. This means fragmentation and waste of resources. We need to reverse this trend and to do more together. The communication puts forward a number of proposals to do so, starting with joint procurement. The European Council has tasked the Council to take the work forward and, as a chair of the FAC Defence, the High Representative intends to do so without delay. The European Defence Agency will continue to play a central role in supporting Member States in their efforts to strengthen their military capabilities, working closely with the Commission. This is also part of the broader work in the framework of the Strategic Compass adopted in March, which provides the backbone to our security and defence efforts. As you know, the Compass contains over 80 concrete actions that will allow us to make a quantum leap forward in security and defence. Work is well underway, including on many of the topics mentioned in your report, such as making operational the rapid deployment capacity, the use of Article 44 to increase our flexibility and swiftness of action or to increase the resilience of the EU and our partners. These are just a few examples of areas where much progress is taking place as we speak. Honourable Members, the war is not over yet, but we can clearly say that Putin’s and the Russian regime’s strategy has failed. Instead of toppling the Ukrainian Government, it strengthened it. Instead of dividing the EU and NATO, it has united them. As rightly pointed out in your report, NATO and the EU have never been so firmly united. Last week, Danish citizens decided in a referendum to abolish the defence opt-out. Finland and Sweden have applied to join NATO. These are just recent examples of interest in the further progress of EU security and defence and in strengthening NATO as a defence alliance. These decisions will bring additional strength and unity to NATO and our common security defence policy and defence initiatives. We are doing precisely what the report calls for: enhancing cooperation with partners, in particular with NATO. Since the first day of Russia’s invasion on 24 February, the EU and NATO have demonstrated political unity and complementarity of efforts. We are in very close cooperation with our international partners to respond to Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine and its civilians. It could not be another way because the stakes are too high.