The High Representative for Foreign Affairs of the EU, Josep Borrell, has highlighted the need to create a common Defense fund, given the needs currently faced by the Twenty-seven. On the one hand, with the unknown of who will be the new tenant of the White House, but also because of the war in Ukraine, the head of European diplomacy has asked that it is necessary to prepare, and although he has ruled out that war is not “imminent”, it is not “a fantasy”, and it is “on the horizon”.
It is often paraphrased that Europe grows and is forged through its crises. For this reason, Josep Borrell considers that it is necessary to learn from the mistakes of the past, and as was done in the economic crisis that broke out in 2008, a common European defense fund must be created between countries, in case of resorting to it if it is necessary. Borrell has stressed that a “new intergovernmental financial vehicle could be created, let’s call it ‘European Defense Mechanism’ comparable to the one we created during the financial crisis to support some Member States that were suffering from this financial crisis,” he said at a breakfast briefing at the New Economy Forum.
Although the politician has ruled out that war is imminent, it “is looming on the horizon, and it is not a minor matter”, we must prepare for any eventuality, thus joining the recent weeks, especially in countries such as the Baltics or Poland. The truth is that the political turn that the United States may take if Donald Trump returns to the White House and a Vladimir Putin of whom it is not known what his next step may be, forces Europe to wake up. “Depending on who governs in Washington, we cannot rely on American support and American ability to protect us,” he added.
“The war is there, it is not going to start tomorrow, but we cannot deny the reality and the reality is that the growing competition between the great powers, high intensity conflicts between States, the militarization of economic interdependence, cyber warfare and misinformation are a part of our reality,” said Borrell.
Borrell believes that although NATO is “irreplaceable”, it is necessary to build “a European pillar” in Defense in which the EU has entered “a third stage of its construction”, after the creation of the common market, on the one hand; and then economic integration.
In March, the European Commission proposed a strategy to boost the European military industry, with the aim of it representing at least 35% by 2030, although it will not be mandatory and also urges European countries to dedicate European contracts to minus 50% of its defense budget for 2030 and 60% for 2035. Likewise, it will allocate 1.5 billion euros to invest in the industry, although Brussels admits that the needs triple this amount.