Good afternoon, dear Helen. Thank you for hosting us here in wonderful Wicklow, and we have just concluded a good meeting of EU Defence Ministers.
First, Ukraine. Russia’s war is becoming more ruthless and destructive, but it is unfortunately not closer to ending. Russia’s army is bogged down on the ground, and that is why they are killing civilians from the skies. And this is terror by design.
In the Black Sea, Russian strikes on grain ships are deliberately putting global food supplies at risk. Russia is also hitting Europe with a wave of increasingly kinetic hybrid attacks. With this, Russia wants to scare us away from supporting Ukraine. They will not succeed. To the contrary, today also the discussions that we had, we will increase our support to Ukraine and invest in our own defence. This is the best way to stop Putin. We are also planning the most far-reaching sanctions against Russia yet.
Militarily, Ukraine is putting Russia under pressure. Ukrainian drones are disrupting Russian logistics and striking refineries deep inside Russia, causing the biggest fuel crisis in Russia in decades. Russia is losing well over 30,000 soldiers per month too. Overall, it has been a rough summer for Putin.
As we heard today from the Ukrainian Minister of Defence, air defence remains our top priority. But interceptors are short supply everywhere. I thank Member States for looking again at their own stocks. Especially Patriot missiles about to expire should be sent or sold to Ukraine.
Member States are also looking at reprioritising orders and reaching out to partners. Every interceptor we provide to Ukraine means that a Russian missile does not reach a Ukrainian school, home, or hospital.
And every support we give to Ukraine strengthens European security.
The EU continues to provide strong support to Ukraine through the Ukraine Support Loan. The EU has already disbursed €8.37 billion in defence support, with more to come. However, continued bilateral support is still necessary.
In addition to equipment, Ukraine needs upgraded training facilities. And earlier this year, I proposed to finance the modernisation of training sites in Ukraine. And I want to thank all the Member States and also Ireland, who announced additional funding for this today.
Ministers also discussed the future of our flagship EUMAM training mission, including establishing a coordination cell in Kyiv, to better integrate the battlefield lessons and strengthen the military education.
EU-Ukraine defence industrial cooperation is also growing. There are now more than 120 industrial partnerships between Ukrainian and European companies. Ukraine is the world leader in battlefield innovation, further integrating Ukrainian and European companies is in our shared interest.
Space is a key enabler of defence, and that is why we were also discussing this today, from navigation to communications to missile detection and intelligence gathering. Defence depends on space systems.
The EU has had significant space capabilities for decades. Galileo, our satellite navigation system is a good example. The EU Satellite Centre has consistently provided crucial support to Member States and Ukraine.
Today, Ministers exchange views on what capabilities are required for Europe to remain a global space actor. This requires the EU, the Member States, civilian and military actors and the private sector to work closely together. Commissioner Kubilius and I will present the joint communication with concrete proposals by the end of the year.
Finally, Ministers focused on the Middle East and maritime security. The flare-up in hostilities between the U.S. and Iran shows how fragile the situation remains. Diplomatic efforts to end the war have yet to produce a tangible breakthrough.
Every day the Strait remains closed, the global economy pays the price. Freedom of navigation must be unimpeded and toll-free. This is a key principle which Member States and many of our partners around the globe agree, and which we will keep on insisting.
Through ASPIDES and ATALANTA, the EU is a major maritime security provider in the region. As Houthi attacks against shipping increase, the role of ASPIDES in protecting the global trade in the Red Sea remains vital. EU naval operations are also stepping up action against Russia’s shadow fleet and are now taking the lead in boarding suspected vessels.
Thanks to the diplomatic work of our EU delegations around the world, fewer countries are allowing these vessels to sail under their flags. As a result of our efforts, hundreds of ships have been deflagged. This matters. Illegal oil sales are a critical lifeline for Kremlin, and we will continue to cut them off.
Ministers also looked at the broader threats at the critical maritime infrastructure. Our economies rely on subsea data cables and energy pipelines. At the same time, threats from drones, mines, and sabotage are growing. What lies beneath the sea is critical to European security above it. We need to defend it accordingly. The EU and its Member States are already allocating more resources towards maritime defence. New initiatives, including the European Defence Project of Common Interest on Integrated Maritime and Seabed Defence, can make a difference. And next week, for the first time, EU’s annual maritime security exercise will focus on protecting critical maritime infrastructure.
On Lebanon, Ministers discussed our plans for a new EU mission to advise and train the country’s armed forces, including on border and maritime security. The EU is not seeking to replace UNIFIL, we are investing in Lebanon’s capacity to provide security for itself. Our objective is to strengthen the Lebanese armed forces and the ability of the Lebanese state to provide security across its territory. Planning is progressing well, and we aim for the Council decision to launch in October.
Before I hand over to our host, one final announcement. Next week, I will launch a new High-Level Group on Defence, consisting of senior political and military leaders from several EU countries, but also from UK and Ukraine.
Europe is investing more in defence than ever but spending alone is not automatically a guarantee for success. We have not been fast enough to cover the gaps in Europe’s conventional power within NATO that we have identified. The aim is to have some of the brightest minds on security and defence to come together and really provide out-of-the-box solutions: how can we be faster to fulfilling these gaps, and how can we be more effective, especially now that the security threat in Europe is so much more real. And under my auspices, the group will bring its findings together in a report setting out concrete recommendations for Europe’s defence.
I will stop here and hand it over to Helen. Thank you very much for having us here.
Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/media/video/I-293469
Q&A
Q. I have a question for you about the high-level group that you just mentioned. Could you tell us to which institution the recommendations will be addressed? Will it be for the EU, for NATO, for both? Are you able to give us a sense of what the priority topics would be and a sense of timeline?
We have this launch event coming up next week, where we can discuss details. But the basic idea behind this is that majority of European [Union] Member States are also members of NATO, and there are gaps in conventional power. In NATO, that means that the Member States need to invest in those capabilities, and these things need to work together. So, we have not been fast enough, although the threat level is rising. The idea is to really look beyond institutions, but to have the brightest minds to come together to provide ideas, not on where the gaps are, but actually how we can fulfil the gaps in the shortest timeframe possible in the most effective way. That is why we are also including Ukraine in it because they have a lot of experience, and the idea is to give ideas to Member States, but also institutions, what we should do better and faster to actually really have tangible results, so that we cover the capability gaps that we have identified, considering the geopolitical situation as well.
Q. Let us continue with the group, and I know that you do not want to reveal many details, but of course it is very interesting now. We know that Italy hired ex-Defence Minister of Ukraine Fedorov to consult. Can you indicate who will represent Ukraine in this group?
First, like I said before, we have the launch event when we have all the names together, and we can reveal that next week. So, a bit of patience in this regard.
What is good is that we have a lot of interest in this as well to contribute, because it is also to look beyond the institutional thinking. Because what we see also from private sector there are a lot of ideas coming – why do you not do this or that so to really have these recommendations there and to move on this. But yes, the names we will reveal next week.
Q. It is to get some sort of an idea on what a mission in Lebanon may look like and what shape that would have, and obviously also funding, please.
We are working on that. Today there was a lot of commitment around the table. We are not replacing UNIFIL. The idea is to really strengthen the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Lebanese government to take the order in Lebanon under control, which means also training, supporting their border control, their internal forces to actually establish order, so that it is remaining with the Lebanese government what is happening in Lebanon.
We are, of course, in close contact with the Lebanese government – what they need from their side – and what the Member States are willing to contribute, but there were more than 10 countries – when I counted – who are willing to contribute resources, and people as well. Because it is easy to open a mission but then it is also what we fill this mission with. I was happy to hear that that Member States are willing to contribute.
Q. We often hear that Ireland is considered a weak link in European security and defence. Are we a weak link or are we a strong link? And what is your view on that? And in relation to your new group you are setting up, will there be any representation of any EU-neutral countries in that?
Thank you for your question. I mean, the EU Military Committee is chaired by General Clancy from Cork, so I would say that the Member States actually trust also people from neutral countries to have a say in European security and defence. When it comes to concrete names in the group, then, of course you have to wait for the launch event.
Q. About the €90 billion loan and the fact that you said, Minister McEntee, that there is consensus to that I think I understand correctly to frontload some of that money. How much do you think could be frontloaded this year, and does that not maybe create a risk next year that there will be less money, obviously, left in the €90 billion pot to give to Ukraine next year? So, is that a concern? And to the HRVP, what do you think about frontloading the money? Would that be something that the Commission could and should work on? And will you also put a bit of pressure on the on the other partners tomorrow, the UK, Switzerland, etc. to do more to get up to their total of €45 billion, which I think is what the Commission estimated last year was what Ukraine would need from those partners over the next two years?
On the €90 billion loan. This is a major milestone, and of course we have different parts of it. When we are talking about frontloading, then we are talking about asking the Member States to frontload their contributions that they have planned in the future, because Ukraine needs these things now. So, for the €90 billion loan we have the plans, we have the derogations, we have all these decisions that we do on the way, and we have already distributed I think it was €8.[37 for defence] billion that Ukraine has already received, but frontloading was the call mainly for the Member States.
Q. A couple of questions on the Patriot missiles. Did you get any firm commitments from the likes of Greece or Spain or anyone else today that they would give missiles that they have, interceptors that they have in their stockpiles to Ukraine? And on the hybrid, you said that Russia was carrying out increasingly kinetic attacks. Do you fear that these will eventually inevitably over into loss of life and bloodshed on European soil, and at what point does these attacks cross the threshold into open conflict?
First on Patriot missiles. No, we did not get any concrete decisions today, but there were calls and talks about these missiles, and they will continue. Unfortunately, no concrete success today regarding this.
When it comes to Russia’s attacks that are increasingly kinetic, it is clear that the risk is also rising. It is also necessary that that we do the steps that we need to do. That is why I also call this group to get together to actually be able to respond to these types of attacks, because one thing is that if we say that if you do this, we will do this, then we have to be ready to act on our words. Otherwise, these words are actually making us weaker because they know that we are not acting on those words. I feel that Russia is testing us all the time, getting a bit further, a bit further, and that is why we really need to respond. That is why we are also now putting together the biggest sanctions package that is concerning the military industry in Russia, so that really we could weaken their military production, which is still ongoing and actually has a lot of European components. If Ukraine is telling if they have their missiles, not only European but Asian and North American as well. So clearly we are not doing enough to stop this.