“70 billion euros to facilitate military movement” - EU Commissioner stresses need to adapt road infrastructure
The European Union needs an investment of 70 billion euros to improve infrastructure and enable rapid military deployment in the event of conflict. To achieve this funding, the Commission is planning to use unspent cohesion funds.
The European Union will need an initial investment of 70 billion euros to urgently adapt rail, road, sea and air corridors to enable the rapid movement of troops and equipment across the bloc in the event of conflict, EU Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius has said.
The European Commission has already identified 500 key projects, including the expansion of ports, airports, tunnels and the reinforcement of railway bridges, that will need to be updated for the movement of personnel and equipment within the EU and to partner countries.
"We need to develop that infrastructure according to NATO planning. Then we also need to see the need to create a very effective defense of strategically important points," the former Lithuanian prime minister said.
Military mobility is not just about possessing defensive equipment and troops, but also about the ability to mobilize them quickly and act as a deterrent against any potential attacker.
Bureaucracies, unharmonised procedures and a lack of adequate infrastructure are currently hampering the ability of the EU's and its allies' armed forces to defend themselves effectively. For example, tanks from one member state were denied passage into another because they exceeded weight limits set by road traffic regulations, the EU's financial watchdog said in a recent report.
The idea of creating a Schengen zone for the military has been around for a decade, but after Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine, it has gained new momentum. Moreover, after the outbreak of war in eastern Europe, the EU allocated the entire 1.7 billion euro budget until the end of 2023 as a political signal, creating a potential funding gap of more than four years until the next budget period.
The European Commission is expected to present a proposal this week to allow member states to use unspent cohesion funds for defence. The same could happen with unspent transport funds, Kubilius said. "We need to explore all possibilities, because investment in the defence industry is also an investment in economic development and will create new jobs," the commissioner stressed.
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