In its conclusions of Friday 15 December, the European Council stressed “the importance of strengthening European security and defence to deliver an ambitious geopolitical Union”.
“The Union needs to take more responsibility for its own security and defence, pursue a strategic course of action and increase its capacity to act autonomously”, the leaders warn.
Speaking to the media, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas stressed the importance of defence preparedness and the single market for defence. “We need to increase our defence spending, but we also need to increase the interoperability of the military defence equipment and munitions we have”, she explained. Her Finnish counterpart, Petteri Orpo, felt that the European defence industry needed to be strengthened. “We need to do more as an EU and as Member States”, he added.
In their conclusions, the leaders call for the urgent implementation of existing measures to facilitate and coordinate joint procurement and to increase the interoperability and production capacity of the European defence industry. They also call for the rapid presentation of a European Defence Industrial Strategy (EDIS), including a proposal for a European Defence Investment Programme (EDIP).
The further development of a single market for defence, the intensification of work to increase the Union’s state of defence preparedness, resilience and security, the strengthening of the new Civilian CSDP Compact and funding from the European Investment Bank are also called for.
“We are making sure that the defence industry has full access to public and private funding, so that the expansion of defence capabilities is also supported by the European Investment Bank”, stressed Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala.
See the conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/a60 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with the Editorial staff)