European leaders are expected to commit to strengthening the EU’s strategic autonomy in defence, energy and the economy, according to a Tuesday 8 March draft of the declaration they are expected to adopt at the Versailles summit on Thursday 10 and Friday 11 March. In parallel, they will adopt a declaration affirming their solidarity with the Ukrainian people (see EUROPE 12906/2).
Calling Russian aggression in Ukraine a “tectonic shift in European history”, and in the face of “growing instability, strategic competition and security threats”, the EU27 are expected to commit to taking more responsibility for security.
They are expected to promise to take decisive new steps to build European sovereignty, reduce dependencies, and design a new growth and investment model for 2030.
Strengthening defence capabilities
Leaders will reportedly commit to strengthening the EU’s defence capabilities.
According to the draft declaration, leaders will agree to “substantially” increase military spending “with a significant share for investment, focusing on identified strategic shortfalls, and with defence capabilities developed collaboratively within the EU”.
They will also reportedly agree to develop new incentives for Member States to invest collaboratively in common projects and to acquire defence capabilities together. EU leaders may also commit to taking steps to strengthen and develop the defence industry.
The European Commission made such proposals on 15 February in its defence package (see EUROPE 12891/1).
In addition, leaders will reportedly agree to invest more in the capabilities needed to conduct the full range of missions and operations. They will also commit to fostering synergies between civil, defence and space research and innovation and investing in critical and emerging technologies and innovation for security and defence.
The leaders also want to strengthen the EU’s cyber resilience, protect infrastructure - especially critical infrastructure - and fight disinformation, saying that it is necessary to protect against “the ever-growing hybrid war”. The strengthening of the security and defence dimension of space industries and activities is also mentioned, as well as the acceleration of ongoing efforts to enhance military mobility across the EU, such as the latest draft of the ‘strategic compass’, which they are due to approve at the end of the month (see EUROPE 12905/8).
Finally, leaders will reportedly reiterate their support for the EU’s third country partners “through all available instruments”, including through an increased ‘European Peace Facility’. According to a European source, the budget initially allocated for 2022 has already been exceeded. The total budget until 2027 is about €6 billion.
Ending energy dependence on Russia
The war in Ukraine, provoked by Russia, is forcing the EU27 to thoroughly review their energy mix while maintaining the objective of climate neutrality by 2050.
“We agree to phase out our dependence on Russian gas, oil and coal”, the draft declaration says.
In order to achieve this objective, Member States plan to: - accelerate the reduction of Europe’s dependence on fossil fuels; - diversify supply sources through increased use of LNG, biogas and hydrogen; - accelerate the development of renewable energies; - improve gas and electricity interconnections in the EU; - strengthen contingency planning for security of supply; - improve energy efficiency.
In addition, they commit themselves to cooperate in building up minimum gas storage levels, optimising the functioning of the electricity market, and improving connectivity with third countries in the immediate neighbourhood.
Most importantly, measures will be taken to address soaring energy prices for the benefit of the most affected citizens and businesses. The subject will be discussed again at the European Council on 24-25 March.
Several Member States including Germany, the Netherlands and Bulgaria have expressed their reluctance to embargo Russian energy products. France, through its finance minister, spoke of the need for a “collective European response” to meet the “challenge of winter 2022-2023” , the AFP reported. As options, Mr Le Maire cited gas storage, grouped purchases, diversification of supplies, improved operation of LNG terminals, and the development of biogas and biomass.
Strengthening the EU’s economic sovereignty
In order to increase the EU’s sovereignty, the EU27 will call for a strengthening of the internal market and investments in future materials and technologies.
In particular, they will identify the five strategic areas where dependence should be reduced: (1) critical raw materials, although the objective of covering one-third of the EU’s needs by 2030 through recycling and local production has been deleted from the version dated 6 March; (2) semiconductors, including the objective of production in the EU of 20% of global production by 2030 (see EUROPE 12886/1); (3) health: the EU will support innovation in research and production of affordable medicines in order to be able to respond to crisis situations via the European HERA authority (see EUROPE 12888/20); (4) digital markets, by investing in new technologies (artificial intelligence, 5G) and influencing the development of future technological standards (6G); (5) food, in particular the production of plant proteins.
The EU will also promote a robust trade policy, capable of defending its standards and values against unfair practices by third countries and promoting reciprocal treatment of economic actors by its trading partners.
On the economic and budgetary front, the EU27 will call for the mobilisation of all available European resources (EU budget, EIB) to attract the necessary investments in the climate and digital transitions. Fiscal policies will have to take into account global investment needs and the new geopolitical situation, without losing sight of the importance of fiscal sustainability, they stress.
See the draft Versailles declaration dated Tuesday 8 March: https://aeur.eu/f/n6 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant and Mathieu Bion)