European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) and Committee on Security and Defence (SEDE) examined draft own-initiative report on military mobility on Monday 1 September. They were in favour of removing obstacles to military mobility, in order to move towards a ‘military Schengen area’.
Drawn up by MEPs Petras Auštrevičius (Renew Europe, Lithuanian) and Roberts Zīle (ECR, Latvian), the report comes at a time when the European Commission is working on a package of measures to be presented by the end of the year. This ‘military Schengen area’ involves removing all existing obstacles to military mobility by streamlining national rules and procedures.
For Dariusz Joński (EPP, Polish), particular attention should be paid to “the harmonisation of procedures, the acceleration of decision-making process and the development of dual-use infrastructure, especially at the eastern flank”. Similarly, Mārtiņš Staķis (Greens/EFA, Latvian) felt that policymakers should focus on “the low-hanging fruits, removing the barriers that still exist for military movement across the borders”. “These reforms do not require billions, but political will and cooperation”.
Alberico Gambino (ECR, Italian) suggested that this appropriate coordination should take place via the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP) and the ‘Connecting Europe Facility’ (CEF).
Another concern for MEPs is the budget that will be allocated to military mobility. They welcomed the proposal for the new 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) to increase the budget dedicated to military transport and mobility, presented in July (see EUROPE 13683/3). However, they fear that the European Council will reduce it, at a time when substantial investment is needed, particularly in dual-use infrastructures. “We don’t know what the final amount will be, but I hope that the leaders of the Member States will be more serious this time and not cut the Commission’s proposal of €17.5 billion in the MFF for 2028-2034, or even increase it in the best case scenario”, Mr Zīle stressed.
For their part, the Commission representatives supported the MEPs’ approach. They assured that all these points would be taken into account.
Read the draft report: https://aeur.eu/f/i8n (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)