- As Ursula von der Leyen notes, “some of our fundamental assumptions are being undermined to the depths” and the pace of change is “quirky and increasingly alarming”
- She assessed that fresh meetings and discussions brought clear conclusions. "Europe must be liable for its own deterrence and defence" — considers
- “Our prosperity and our freedom depend on security. But to do this, we must reconstruct the ability to deter those who want to harm us," he adds.
“A fresh era is coming. Europe is faced with a clear and current threat on a scale that no of us have seen in our adult life," she points out at the outset of her letter to the EU leaders of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
As he notes, “some of our fundamental assumptions are being undermined to the depths”, and the pace of change is “quirky and increasingly alarming”.
"The future of free and sovereign Ukraine — a safe and prosperous Europe — is at stake. And this should find the nature of our thinking, the boldness of our actions and the urgency with which we will implement our decisions in the coming days and weeks," the Commissioner called for.
"Europe must be liable for its own deterrence and defence"
Ursula von der Leyen in her letter assessed that fresh meetings and discussions brought a clear conclusion. "Europe must be liable for its own deterrence and defence," he considers. It so decided to present the European consequence Plan — REARM Europe before the European Council this week.
"The proposed measures focus on the request for an urgent and crucial increase in our safety and defence spending in Europe, including through a fresh peculiar defence instrument", added von der Leyen. At the same time, she pointed out that the EU inactive wants close transatlantic relations.
The EC chief recalled that after the full-scale war in Ukraine, the EU and its associate States made a crucial contribution to assisting Kiev. "We supported Ukraine with any €140 billion, including around €50 billion for military support and trained over 73,000 Ukrainian soldiers. We besides imposed unprecedented sanctions. It is crucial to state these facts. This helped to bring Russia's aggression to a united response," says von der Leyen.
Europe appreciates US support. However, there is “but”
Von der Leyen stressed that "in Europe, we appreciate the support of the United States and the function they have played in European safety for decades." "But the context in which we operate changes drastically and dramatically. The foundations on which the full post-war European political and economical order is built are shaken to the depths, and erstwhile the European order is shaken, past tells us that the full global strategy can be destabilised," the EC chief estimates.
According to Ursula von der Leyen, Europe now has 2 roads. The first is “management approach”, i.e. gradual consequence to the situation in Ukraine and another places The second way is to go ahead and "mobilise Europe's vast resources. Calling our collective spirit to defend democracy."
"I believe the second option is our only choice. That's our target, after all. To do so, we request to free our industrial and production power and mark it for security,” she says. "Because it is our well-being and our freedom that depends on security. But to that end, we must reconstruct the ability to deter those who want to harm us," he adds.
Five-point plan of the EC Chief
Ursula von der Leyen presented 5 points of her plan. The first point concerns the loosening of EU spending rules. “We will propose launching the national “exit clause” from the stableness and Growth Pact. This will enable associate States to importantly increase defence spending without triggering the excessive deficit procedure," said von der Leyen in a press statement.
According to her, if EU associate States increase defence spending by an average of 1.5% of GDP, they will amount to nearly EUR 650 billion over 4 years.
As early as mid-February, the EC Head announced loosening fiscal rules to give associate States the chance to increase defence spending. However, it was unclear which option the European Commission would choose. The national way allows each associate State to individually activate the exit clause. In contrast, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the EC launched the alleged general clause, which "disabled" the application of fiscal rules for all countries; according to them, the deficit of associate States should be below 3% of GDP and public debt must not exceed 60% of GDP.
The second point concerns a EUR 150 billion debt package for associate States that will be guaranteed from the EU budget. Von der Leyen stressed that this money could be spent on areas specified as air and rocket defense, artillery systems, missiles and ammunition, drones and drone systems. “Of course, this will enable associate States to importantly increase their support for Ukraine,” she said.
The 3rd point of the plan is the anticipation of utilizing cohesion policy funds from the EU budget, which will be decided by EU countries.
The next 2 points concern the mobilisation of private capital by speeding up the Union of Savings and Investments and the usage of the European Investment Bank.
