Use: EU Commission presents defense strategy for Europe

Against the background of growing danger, the EU Commission today presents a new strategy paper on the future of European defense. In the so-called white book, the authority, led by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, will specifically explain to the EU member states how, in their view, the current threats to Russia and other aggressive actors must be reacted to.

According to a draft available to the German Press Agency, seven areas are to be defined in which primarily existing military ability gaps must be closed. These include, for example, air defense and rocket defense, drone systems and electronic warfare.

Billions for upgrading

“If Europe wants to avoid war, it has to be ready for war,” says the text. Russia is irrevocable on the way to a war economy and continues his war of aggression in Ukraine, while it is also preparing for future confrontations with European democracies.

The Commission announced that around 800 billion euros should be mobilized for upgrade projects. For this purpose, EU loans in the amount of 150 billion euros and exceptions from the strict EU debt rules are planned.

Much less clearly than initially intended by the EU foreign commissioner Kaja Kallas and EU defense commissioner Andrius Kubilius should be warned in the white book against dependencies on the USA. Corresponding explicit passages from an older text design will not make it into the final version according to the German press agency after the intervention of the Cabinet of Ursula von der Leyen.

There is criticism from the European Parliament. “A white paper on European defense only makes sense if it recognizes reality-and this includes an honest re-evaluation of transatlantic relations,” said German Green MP Hannah Neumann. This shows that one can no longer rely on the United States, but is almost completely dependent on them at central skills.

If billions of bills are now invested, they would have to flow specifically into building their own capacities – from air defense to cyber to military education. The seven strategic investment areas for this are a good step.

In the earlier draft for the white book, it had specifically said about dependencies on the United States that the United States could possibly restrict or even prevent the use of key components for military use. The only way to overcome dependencies is therefore to develop the necessary skills through common European armaments projects.