The European Commissioner for Defence and Space, Andrius Kubilius, has stated that “an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us,” a phrase typically associated with NATO member states and Article 5 of the military alliance’s founding treaty.
“We can still avert catastrophe, deter Russian aggression, prevent war, and maintain peace,” Mr. Kubilius said while speaking in Warsaw at the outset of a two-day informal meeting of EU defence chiefs.
On the agenda for tomorrow, the bloc’s defence ministers and chiefs of staff will deliberate on EU military aid for Ukraine and the contents of the EU’s new White Paper on the future of European defence, released last month under Mr. Kubilius’s guidance.
The military aid package proposed for Ukraine, spearheaded by Kaja Kallas, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, is understood to focus on addressing Ukraine’s urgent need for increased ammunition supplies.
This plan, which has received support from all 27 member states, suggests an €800 billion increase in defence and security spending over the next four years across the bloc, with €150 billion potentially being financed through private loans backed by the EU’s budget.
Mr. Kubilius, who previously served as Lithuania’s prime minister and was appointed last December as the EU’s first defence commissioner, has called for increased investment in Europe’s defence sector.
The military aid initiative for Ukraine is led by Kaja Kallas, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
The White Paper, titled ‘Readiness 2030’, highlights the deficiencies in Europe’s military capabilities, such as air defence, artillery systems, missiles, ammunition, drones, and deep-strike weaponry.
“From this point forward, our focus is on implementation, implementation, implementation,” Mr. Kubilius remarked, emphasizing that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin “will only be deterred if we translate the White Paper into actionable strategies.”
The document outlines critical threats to EU security and recommends how member states can enhance their defence readiness against these threats while promoting investment in the European defence industry.
Additionally, it broadly includes the Commission’s ‘ReArm Europe’ agenda, which features the proposed €150 billion loan mechanism.
Mr. Kubilius noted that Russia is manufacturing more weapons in three months than all NATO countries do in a year.
He encouraged more nations to “follow the example of Poland,” referring to the Polish government’s pledge to allocate 4.7% of GDP to defence this year.
Poland intends to expand its military to half a million service members, including reservists, by instituting military training for men of military age starting this year.
As of 2024, the average defence expenditure across the block is projected to be just below 2% of combined GDP.
“My primary objective is to enhance defence readiness,” stated Hanno Pevkur, Estonia’s defence minister, on the sidelines of the meeting.
He also mentioned that Estonia plans to raise defence spending to over 5% of GDP next year.
“We will acquire diverse capabilities across all domains: sea, land, air, cyber, and electronic warfare.”
“We cannot afford to delay in any capital by saying we won’t increase spending,” Mr. Pevkur added.
Iceland, on the other hand, currently allocates about 0.24% of GDP for defence, one of the lowest rates in the bloc.
However, the government has expressed intentions to boost defence funding to €3 billion annually in the coming years, aligning with the objective dubbed ‘Level of Ambition 3,’ initially proposed by a Defence Forces commission in 2022.
This figure would represent a doubling of the current expenditure target of €1.5 billion set for 2028.
The Irish delegation at the two-day Warsaw meeting is being led by Jacqui McCrum, Secretary General of the Department of Defence.
It is anticipated that Ukraine’s defence minister Rustem Umerov, along with NATO’s deputy secretary-general Radmila Shekerinska, will participate in tomorrow’s discussions regarding military aid for Ukraine.
In the three years following Russia’s full-scale invasion, the EU has extended approximately €50 billion in military assistance to Ukraine, which is equivalent to less than 0.1% of the bloc’s combined GDP.
