EU’s Borrell cites ‘danger to Europe’ to sell military plan

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says since “Europe is in danger,” it is vital for the bloc to agree on his “guide to action” — an ambitious military doctrine — in order to become a security provider for its citizens by creating an emergency military force before 2025.

Borrell made the warning during a meeting with major European media outlets on Wednesday, stressing that European citizens wanted to be protected by the bloc, which is why it must become a security provider.

“We need to have rapid deployment capabilities,” he stressed, adding that as the first step, it would be necessary to create a rapid crisis force, composed of 5,000 soldiers.

The US-led NATO, however, remains primarily responsible for Europe’s collective defense, Borrell emphasized.

Commenting on the first draft of the EU’s so-called Strategic Compass, which is meant to guide the implementation of the security and defense dimension of the bloc’s Global Strategy, he added that European citizens “want member states to improve their capacities in order to be more effective, and they want to project Europe in the world because they know that our security starts far away from our borders and depends on the security of our partners.”

The Strategic Compass, which was initiated in mid-2020 and is planned as an attempt to fix the EU’s doctrine, is scheduled to be presented to the bloc’s foreign and defense ministers, who will take up the issue on Monday for a first assessment. The final version of the document is expected to be approved by EU leaders in March 2022, under the French EU presidency.

“We know that the use of force won’t solve a problem, but we also know that the lack of military might is regarded by the rest of the world as a source of weakness,” Borrell further told reporters.

Borrell warns EU likely to lose player status in international arena

EU foreign policy chief warns that the bloc risks losing its ability as a full-fledged player in the world arena.

He said, “We are in a world in which everything is susceptible to being used as a weapon of aggression, and in that scenario, it is not enough for the EU to exercise its soft power through trade and human rights policy.”

EU train-and-assist missions are currently modest in size, and the 27 member states also do not possess the logistics and command and control capabilities of the United States. The bloc’s members also do not match the intelligence-gathering capabilities of the US.

Although the European bloc has progressed in building a common defense fund to develop weapons since late 2017, member states have yet to deploy their joint battalion-sized battle groups in a crisis.

“All the threats we face are intensifying and the capacity of individual member states to cope is insufficient and declining,” Borrell further warned in the foreword to the draft of his Strategic Compass.

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