EU to Speed Up Work on Defense Preparedness

The EU heads of states and governments called on all fronts to accelerate work to improve Europe’s defense preparedness over the next five years. This was stated in the final documents adopted after the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, 20 March, dw.com reported. The call builds on the results of a special meeting of the European Council on 6 March and the White Paper (government briefing paper) on the operational readiness of European defense up to 2030. “A stronger and more capable EU will make a positive contribution to global and transatlantic security and complement NATO, which remains the backbone of the collective defense of those EU member states,” Brussels is confident. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on the sidelines of the summit that Germany must “do everything possible to strengthen our own national and allied defense capabilities”, AFP news agency reported. Rearming in Europe On 19 March, the EU gave the go-ahead for rearmament in Europe - up to 800 billion euros are to be invested in defense. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called for a “new EU financial instrument” with loans totaling €150bn. At the same time, EU member states remain divided over the issue of so-called Eurobonds - joint European debt obligations. Thus, Scholz speaks out against common debt. French President Emmanuel Macron, on the contrary, believes that “we will have to return to a common debt,” AFP recalled.