A couple of weeks ago, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, gave her annual address on the State of the European Union. The EU was praised for its impressive vaccination rate and its good start toward recovery from one of the most intense crises the continent has ever faced. A myriad of topics is addressed in Ursula von der Leyen’s speech. This short paper will focus on the mentions that affect EU Security and Defence directly or indirectly (Von der Leyen, 2021).
Before we go into what Von der Leyen’s Commissions goals are for the future of European Defence and Security, let us try to understand where we stand now. A shift in EU defence policy occurred in 2016. This shift is due to various reasons that can be split into two main categories. Firstly, the threats the continent faces have changed drastically. The EU is now faced with the reverberations of the internal crisis of its neighbouring states and some of their aggressive ambitions. For example, the migration crisis stemming from the east and the Russian territorial claims. Secondly, the EU and its Member States realised with the Trump administration that they could not rely as much as they thought on their transatlantic partner. A similar reflection is made about the UK after their exit from the Union (Engberg, 2021, 5-6). With the hybridisation of threats and changing and diminishing resources, the EU must adapt and counter these and call for a change – and, most importantly, call for more cooperation in EU defence. Lately, some steps have been taken to move from the intergovernmental approach of the Common Security and Defence Policy to a more federal one. The Permanent Structured Cooperation assembles projects and ensures interoperability between EU Member States that chose to be part of the Union. The European Defence Fund allows Member States to access funds for their common equipment and research programmes in the defence and security field. Another important step forward consists of the European Strategic Compass, a common threat analysis that should allow for creating a common strategic culture. This novelty has been in the making for a few years now and is mentioned in von der Leyen’s address. (Engberg, 2021, 39-40).
Let us first look at the direct mentions of security in the Commission president’s speech. After a show of support for the Afghan people and the desire to learn from the US withdrawal, Von der Leyen goes on to preface the explanation of her Commission’s objectives by saying that “there is simply no security and defence issue where less cooperation is the answer” (Von der Leyen, SOTEU 2021). Cooperation and the strive for improved interoperability seem to be two important guiding principles of this year’s work. The president comments on the state of the EU’s neighbouring countries and the threats its policies will tackle. NATO and the UN are mentioned, specifically, their possible absence in future EU foreign missions.
At last, Von der Leyen mentions the European Defence Union and discussions around EU battlegroups. Before laying out the next steps to take to create a defence union, the president speaks of political will or lack thereof. This year’s SOTEU emphasises a desire to put EU militaries to good use. (Von der Leyen, SOTEU 2021). In The Guardian, Daniel Boffey mentions a certain fear and caution from countries that greatly depend on NATO and the transatlantic relationship to push and invest in increased EU cooperation on defence (Boffey, 2021). Still, this political will has to come from somewhere. Thus, the first step towards a coherent Defence Union is for this Commission’s “collective decision making” (Von der Leyen, SOTEU 2021). To make decisions, leaders need information. That is why one of the goals for the year to come is to further improve intelligence cooperation by creating a Joint Situational Awareness Centre to make informed decisions. Interoperability is also on the agenda: von der Leyen suggests the waving of VAT if Member States decide to buy their equipment from one of their EU neighbours. Lastly, a common European Cyber Defence policy anchored in legislation is needed to face the ever-changing cyber threats. Before moving to the next topic, the president mentions two important upcoming events: first, the publication of the European Strategic Compass, which had already been delayed, written by the European External Action Service on the threats the EU faces and suggestions for possible strategies, and second, the Summit on European defence during the French presidency, convened by her and President Macron.
The speech was one hour long, and although it wasn’t all about defence and security, von der Leyen still mentions a lot of ambitions that will inevitably influence the Union’s defence strategy. One of these is semi-conductors, used in everything from cars to personal computers. To produce your semi-conductors in sufficient quantities is sure to be an advantage for the defence equipment industry. For the commission, having this advantage is an issue of “tech sovereignty” and a project as ambitious as the Galileo Satellite. Migration is also mentioned in the form of a ‘New Pact on Migration and Asylum’. There is a need for a “European migration management policy” stemming from the lack of consensus on handling migrants coming to Europe. Migration is an exploitable and currently exploited weakness of the Union and its Member States by its opponents (Von der Leyen, SOTEU 2021).
If we compare this year’s State of the Union address to last year’s, we see that security and defence have become a more important part of the Commission’s goals. Politico’s Hirsch deconstructed von der Leyen’s speech and discovered that words such as “defence” and “security” were some of the most mentioned words (Hirsch, 2021). All in all, the Commission seems to be dedicated to spending more time and money on security-related issues, be it defence policies, such as the European Defence Union and the Joint Situational Awareness Centre, or adjacent policies on Technology and Immigration.
Written by Victor Ferreira
Bibliography
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