The European Council promised on Tuesday 31 May that the EU will develop its defence capabilities.
“The EU will resolutely implement the ‘Strategic Compass’, reinforce its partnerships, improve its resilience and increase its security and defence capacity through more and better investments by focusing on identified strategic shortfalls”, the adopted conclusions state.
Speaking to the media, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, underlined that, while more must be spent on defence, spending must also be done better, and together.
“The conviction shared around the table is that we must spend and invest more, but do it better, that is to say, act more in Europe, by taking into consideration measures such as grouped markets, but also the ability to strengthen the industrial, technological base by taking into consideration the role of SMEs”, summarised Mr Michel.
According to French President Emmanuel Macron, “the money we are going to deploy must also be accompanied by an industrial strategy, because it is not a question of buying equipment that is made elsewhere. Building our sovereignty also means building equipment that is made by Europeans for Europeans”.
In its conclusions, the European Council calls on the EU Council to consider the main measures proposed by the European Commission on 18 May, as well as measures to develop an “EU defence strategic programming, procurement and coordination capability, in complementarity with NATO”.
Mrs von der Leyen announced that the European Commission would propose, before the end of June, to mobilise €500 million over the next 2 years to encourage joint procurement by at least three Member States.
While Sweden and Finland have applied for membership in the Atlantic Alliance, the European Council recalls that the transatlantic relationship and cooperation between the EU and NATO, in full respect of, inter alia, the principles of inclusiveness, reciprocity, and the EU’s decision-making autonomy, “are essential for our global security”.
“All aspects of defence policy must be part of a broader alliance, of the strongest military alliance in history - NATO”, Polish MEP Mateusz Morawiecki said on his arrival at the Council.
The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, who will host the NATO summit from 28 to 30 June in Madrid, said he wanted to give the summit a double meaning: on the one hand, to strengthen the ties between NATO and the EU, “which must be complementary”, and on the other, to strengthen the southern flank in terms of security.
“Solidarity between Member States is reflected in Article 42(7) of the TEU”, which deals with collective defence, the leaders also point out.
See the conclusions of the European Council: https://aeur.eu/f/1vu (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with the editorial staff)