Thank you and good afternoon.
I start with Monday’s attack on Polish railway track, which highlights the unprecedented risk to European transport infrastructure. Russia’s attacks have become increasingly brazen. Our critical infrastructure needs more protection.
The fast movement of Europe’s militaries is essential for European defence. We have to ensure that forces can be in the right place and at the right time.
Swift movement depends on many factors: can our roads, tunnels, bridges bear the weight? Are there enough designated routes for the military movements? Do we have enough flatbed rail carriages, and what paperwork do we still have to fill [out] when you want to cross [a] border for training, or in case of crisis.
It is quite simple: the faster we can move forces, the stronger our deterrence and defence. We need to be talking about days, not weeks, to move troops in Europe.
Some countries still require 45 days’ notice before other countries’ troops can pass through their for exercises, for example. Eleven years after Russia annexed Crimea, this is simply not good enough.
The European Defence Agency has already identified the solutions to harmonise border crossing procedures, including customs formalities, and rules on transporting dangerous good. But we need to do more. So today, as Henna already said, we are proposing a range of improvements.
First, we need to reduce administrative barriers. For that, we propose a new EU-wide emergency mechanism that allows member states to relax the rules when armed forces need to be moved rapidly across the borders. We also propose that the national military transport coordinators are assigned in each Member State.
Second funding. The Commission’s proposal for the next multi-annual budget foresees €17 billion investment for dual-use transport infrastructure. This goes together with the 1.5% of GDP spending that NATO Allies pledged for security-related investments.
Investing in infrastructure is crucial. If a bridge cannot carry a 60-ton tank, we have a problem. If a runway is too short for a cargo plane, we cannot resupply our troops. EU military mobility does not duplicate NATO’s efforts, on the contrary, it underpins NATO’s defence plans.
As we flagged in the white paper, we also want to extend the military mobility corridors into Ukraine. This would be a security guarantee, meaning we could deliver faster support if needed.
Military mobility is a critical insurance policy for European security. You hope [that] you never have to use it [to] full capacity. But having it ready ensures more credible deterrence and defence.
And on that note, I will pass now the floor to Commissioner Kubilius, please.
Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/media/video/I-280962