The European Commission on Thursday 10 November unveiled its ‘Action plan on military mobility 2.0’, which is designed to enable the EU’s armed forces to move more quickly and efficiently. The presentation of the plan by the Commission was accompanied, against the background of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine and the increasing cyber threat, by a joint communication on EU cyber defence policy (see other news).
In detail, the Commission’s action plan, following on from the first action plan in this area launched in 2018, will cover the period 2022-2026 and will be based on several pillars.
The first of these will be to identify the existing gaps in the current infrastructure. In this sense, the focus should be on revising the requirements for the fuel supply chain to support “large-scale, short-notice” military movements. As such, a study should be carried out in 2023 to analyse the possibilities for such movements, with the aim of improving long-term infrastructure planning and optimal use.
In addition, the Commission intends to “maximise synergies” with the civilian transport sector to improve military mobility by air and sea. In this regard, the Commission wishes to increase investment in dual-use transport infrastructure - civil and military - along the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) (see EUROPE 13048/17). Measures will be taken to identify the main corridors and strategic logistic nodes along the TEN-T.
The text also provides for the digitalisation of administrative processes in customs logistics and military mobility systems. In concrete terms, this will include the development of a digital system for the “rapid and secure” exchange of information related to military mobility through funding of up to €9 million from the European Defence Fund. The number of exercises to test improvements and identify remaining obstacles should be increased.
On a wider scale, the text aims to strengthen cooperation with NATO and the EU’s other strategic partners, while facilitating dialogue with enlargement candidate countries such as Ukraine, Moldova and the Western Balkans. EU High Representative Josep Borrell announced that the UK would join the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) project on military mobility and that Turkey’s request to join the project was “moving forward”.
While the various components of the ‘Fit For 55’ package (see EUROPE 13060/6) are at the heart of the work currently being carried out within the European institutions, the action plan on military mobility looks to improving the energy efficiency and climate resilience of transport systems.
The action plan will be financed by instruments such as the ‘Connecting Europe Facility’, which finances dual-use transport infrastructure projects, and the European Defence Fund, which supports the development of interoperable logistics and digital systems.
See the document: https://aeur.eu/f/408 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant and Thomas Mangin)