In addition to supporting Ukraine, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, and the Commissioner for Defence and Space, Andrius Kubilius, on Wednesday 22 January, called on Europeans to spend more on defence, but also to strengthen the defence industry.
In speeches delivered at an annual conference of the European Defence Agency, they recalled that the EU was already facing hybrid warfare. “If we do nothing, these hybrid attacks could be followed by military attacks”, warned Mr Kubilius. According to Ms Kallas, “many national intelligence agencies are telling us that Russia could test the EU’s ability to defend itself within the next three to five years”.
“The only language (Vladimir) Putin speaks is the language of force. The EU is strong. We have the economic wherewithal to spend more, produce more and stay ahead of Russia”, explained the High Representative.
Spending more. One of the priorities must be to spend more on defence. Last year, Member States collectively spent an average of 1.9% of their GDP on defence, while Russia spent 9%. This year, Moscow is expected to spend a third of its national budget on defence.
“We spend billions on our schools, health care and social protection. But if we do not invest more in defence, all this is in danger”, warned Mrs Kallas, echoing the arguments of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. “It’s time to invest”, she warned.
“In these times of existential danger, we must not limit our defences to our finances. The opposite is true: we need to mobilise our finances to meet our defence needs”, added Commissioner Kubilius.
Recalling that Lithuania - his own country - had announced that it would spend 5 to 6% of its GDP on defence over the next few years, Mr Kubilius felt that the EU needed this kind of commitment.
Taking the view that the EU’s security depended not only on its military preparedness, but also on the resilience of its industrial and technological base, General Sławomir Wojciechowski, the Polish military representative on the NATO and EU military committees, explained that it was necessary to strengthen the public-private partnership, which is “essential to support innovation and ensure global competitiveness”, or to coordinate “investment in research and development that will enable the EU to maintain its technological edge while reducing its dependence on external suppliers”.
Developing capabilities. Mr Kubilius also warned of the “very serious” shortcomings in Europe’s defence capabilities, calling for a “big bang” approach to increasing defence production and procurement.
The High Representative and the Commissioner stressed the need for interoperable European weapons systems. According to Ms Kallas, the EU does not need a European army, but 27 armies capable of working effectively together. “We need defence integration and interoperability on the ground”, she stressed.
Furthermore, while acknowledging that the needs, capabilities and industrial strength of each Member State differ greatly, the High Representative explained that it was “important for the Member States to agree on the areas in which the EU can best help each of them to develop their capabilities”.
According to Mr Kubilius, the European Commission wants to “provide European coordination, support and industrial and regulatory influence”. “We can help EU Member States achieve their capability targets: we can raise additional funds. We can implement major industrial programmes”, he added.
Strengthening industry. Furthermore, for the High Representative, “it is important to link capability planning to the EU’s defence industrial policy”. And to announce a future industrial production plan: “We need to ensure that we can accelerate our defence industry and get the products we need on time. We need to relate what we know about our capability gaps and what we lack to what our industries can produce”.
She went on to say that it was necessary to think about how best to help European industry produce these products “and work with (the) allies when we can’t do it internally”.
Ms Kallas called for the creation of a single defence market “which harbours enormous untapped industrial potential”.
She also called for closer cooperation with NATO, the United States and the United Kingdom. With the latter, Ms Kallas felt that an agreement on security and defence would be “a logical step”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)