EU Defence Commissioner Wants to Invest Over €500 Billion in Europe's Defence Industry

Photo: Andrius Kubilius

The EU must urgently strengthen its defense because Russia could be ready for a confrontation in six to eight years, Andrius Kubilius, a candidate for the post of the first EU Defense Commissioner, said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, September 18.

The former Lithuanian prime minister will have to boost the European arms industry, encourage EU countries to spend more on arms purchases in Europe and to make joint purchases, and encourage companies to cooperate more actively with each other.

"NATO defense ministers and generals agree that Vladimir Putin may be ready for a confrontation with NATO and the EU in 6-8 years,– Kubilius said.– If we take these assessments seriously, this is the time when we must prepare properly, because it is short. This means that we must make fast and ambitious decisions".

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According to Kubilius, his first task in his new post will be to study (together with the candidate for the post of the EU's chief diplomat Kaja Kallas) the question of what resources the EU needs to be ready for a military challenge. He intends to complete the study in the first 100 days of his term.

Underinvestment of more than a trillion euros in the decade since the financial crisis means Europe's defence industry is in a “poor state,” Kubilius says.

Kubilius faces a standoff with several EU governments wary of giving Brussels the power to decide how they should organise their defence industries.

The European Commission has no legal mandate to develop defence policy. EU countries coordinate their defence efforts through NATO.

Kubilius sees his role as complementing NATO, not competing with it.

“The EU will not have defence plans or military leadership like NATO, but the EU has tools to get more funding, which NATO does not,” – he said.

Kubilius said that over the next few years he would like to invest more than 500 billion euros in the development of the European defense industry.

Prepared by: Sergey Daga