A “world fraught with danger” means European Union countries have to cooperate on buying weapons as the United States retreats from the continent, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday.
“Member states need to be able to fully rely on European defense supply chains, especially in times of urgent need,” she said in a speech to cadets at the Royal Danish Military Academy. “And that means creating an EU-wide market for defense equipment” by 2030.
Her speech laid out the Commission’s thinking a day before it publishes a detailed defense proposal, called a white paper, which includes a €150 billion fund for countries to spend on defense.
Von der Leyen outlined a list of initiatives to boost Europe’s defense spending and military industrial complex, rearm militaries and continue to support Ukraine. A key element is a so-called European Sales Mechanism to pool national demand and jointly procure weapons.
For Europe’s defense industry to grow and make long-term investments, companies need a “steady stream of multiyear orders to steer investment and ramp up capacity.” This process “starts with investment in Europe,” she said, calling on member countries to “buy more European.”
“We need a functioning EU-wide network of land corridors, airports and seaports that facilitate the fast transport of troops and military equipment,” she said. “At the same time, we need to invest in air and missile defense, artillery systems, ammunition and missiles.”
And she left the door open to countries outside the EU to join those efforts.
“Our security is indivisible. That is why we are working to break new ground on security with the United Kingdom and other partners within Europe, in our neighborhood or within the G7 — from Canada to Norway,” and even as far afield as “India and other parts of Asia.”
A crucial driver is U.S. President Donald Trump questioning the transatlantic alliance, which has left European capitals scrambling to figure out how to deter Russia and replace key U.S. weapons systems with European ones.
However, von der Leyen trod carefully around the fraught topic of relations with Trump.
“We see our oldest partner — the United States — move their focus to the Indo-Pacific,” she said, adding: “We are fully committed to working with NATO and the United States.”
But she also offered reassurance to “all the people of Greenland — and of Denmark as a whole” that “Europe will always stand for sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Unmentioned were Trump’s frequent threats to annex the island.
Von der Leyen’s speech came on the same day that Trump held talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on ending the war in Ukraine — discussions that excluded Ukraine and European countries.
“Now is the time to speak honestly so that every European understands what is at stake,” von der Leyen said. And she warned that “a new international order will be formed in the second half of this decade and beyond.”
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