On Tuesday 9 April, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, said that security and defence would become “THE” issue for the EU over the next few years.
“I believe that the EU is now entering the third phase of its development”, after 1957 and the common market, then accelerated economic integration, the single market and single currency. “This third period will lead to the creation of a strong security and defence pillar”, he said.
In Mr Borrell’s view, one key to achieving this objective will be to fulfil the EU’s “moral and political” obligations towards Ukraine. He called for Kyiv to be supplied with the necessary air defence systems and munitions. “We should do more and better to ensure that Ukrainians have the capabilities they need”, advocated the High Representative. According to Mr Borrell, Ukrainian minister Kuleba is asking for 7 batteries for its Patriot systems in order to protect the country and “it would be inconceivable not to supply them when the Western armies have around 100”.
According to the High Representative, creating this strong security and defence pillar raises two issues. The first is defence spending, defence funding. “We lack resources”, Mr Borrell lamented. Recalling that the EU had gone to the financial markets because there was “an existential threat”, the head of diplomacy wondered whether the ability to defend and support Ukraine was an existential issue today. “If it is, we need to think broadly and deeply, as we’ve done in the past for issues we considered existential threats”.
According to Mr Borrell, we need to create a new intergovernmental financial vehicle – the European defence mechanism – “comparable to the one we created during the financial crisis, support for Member States suffering from the financial crisis”. He regretted that Member States were not providing sufficient funding to the European Defence Agency.
The second issue concerns the way in which collective action is organised. “What kind of institutional framework do we need in order to take advantage of our security and defence ambitions?” asked the High Representative, adding that this would be one of the most important debates held between the Member States and with the European Parliament, to define “who does what”.
He recalled that there are currently four levels of action: States, cooperation between States, Community action and strategic alliances that are “primarily NATO”. The High Representative predicted that in the next mandate a battlefield would exist on which intergovernmental institutions and Community institutions would fight “to dominate the political landscape” concerning foreign affairs and defence, which are “at the very heart of sovereignty”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)