45 MEPs from the ECR, EPP, Renew Europe, S&D and Identity and Democracy groups in the European Parliament, from 15 Member States, called on Tuesday 9 June for “adequate funding for military mobility in the next Multiannual Financial Framework” (MFF).
In a letter to the European Commission, MEPs – mainly from Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, but also from Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Finland, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden – say it is necessary to maintain funding at the level originally proposed, €5.767 billion (in 2018 prices), while the Commission is now proposing €1.5 billion.
“European funding for military mobility would prove that the EU has a real ambition to improve the defence capabilities of member states”, they explained, recalling that military mobility was a flagship area of EU-NATO cooperation.
On Tuesday, German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer also highlighted the issue of military mobility. “We know that bargaining on the MFF will be difficult. But if we really take certain issues seriously, such as mobility, then investments in infrastructure for, for example, military transport can also be used for projects in the civilian sector and thus generate environmentally friendly job growth in Europe”, she emphasised during a video conference organised by the German Marshall Fund.
Asked about a possible European army, Ms Kramp-Karrenbauer said she did not believe in a short-term perspective where each country would give up its national army to form a European army. However, she wanted Europeans to work more closely together, on equipment and in terms of public procurement, in order to achieve better results.
See the letter from the MEPs: https://bit.ly/2XQhKTE (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)