The need to guarantee a “strong and secure” Europe will occupy a central place in the strategic agenda that will guide the steps of the European Union between now and the end of the decade, a new time marked by the deterioration of the security situation in which , in a radical change with respect to the current legislature, priority will be given to military spending, competitiveness and food security over sustainability. This is what emerges from the document sent by the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, to the leaders of the Twenty-seven after the debate held at the Granada summit in October and in small discussion groups such as the one that took place last night in Warsaw, an informal dinner in which the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the Prime Ministers of Greece, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg and Estonia participated.
Nothing in the strategic agenda that the Union prepared in 2019 pointed to the possibility of preparing for a pandemic that would stop the world two years later, the return of war to the European continent was not even considered, and defense was only mentioned in passing. as an issue in which the club should take more responsibility. But the document made it clear that the climate transition was going to be one of the great political axes of the legislature. In 2024, that role will undoubtedly be played by military spending and the promotion of European deterrence policy, but the details on how to modulate these efforts and accommodate other priorities divide the Twenty-seven, as seen at the March summit. , where Sánchez and Tusk clashed over the language that the EU should use to convey a message of urgency to its population without falling into warmongering or alarmism.
The draft of the European strategy, to which La Vanguardia has had access, dedicates a large chapter to security. Among the ideas being discussed are “mobilizing all the necessary instruments” to guarantee reaction capacity in terms of defense, “substantially increasing defense spending” and cooperation with NATO, paving the way to increase the production capacity of the European defense industry and facilitate its access to financing, also through the European Investment Bank.
The document raises the enlargement of the Union as a security issue, which after long years without progress in negotiations with Balkan countries in the heat of war has opened its doors to Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. The process must be “incentivized”, but also adopt the necessary internal reforms for the club to remain operational, as well as commit to the gradual integration of new members. The harsh language regarding the migration phenomenon continues.
Competitiveness also promises to be another of the central themes of the new legislature and, in that context, Michel raises the need to “guarantee our food security through a vibrant agricultural sector”, ambitious language that comes after months of protests and important concessions to field. The document is committed to “accelerating the energy transition”, preparing for “the new realities derived from climate change” and reducing dependencies. But the level of attention to the environment is strikingly “weak” for the Government of Spain and has been criticized by organizations such as Greenpeace, which warns that the EU’s military ambition leaves it exposed to “ecological collapse.”
This is not a mere debate exercise. The next budgets of the Union, known as the Multiannual Financial Framework in community jargon, will emerge from the priorities set by the Twenty-Seven in the strategic agenda for the period 2025-2029. The matter will be on the table of the European heads of State and Government during the extraordinary summit that will be held in Brussels on April 17 and 18 and which will be devoted to the chapter on competitiveness, although the seriousness of Russia’s latest attacks on Ukraine could finally sneak into the agenda of the meeting. The debates will continue until the summit at the end of June, when, after the elections to the European Chamber, the Twenty-Seven will have to agree on their roadmap for a tense end of the decade.
