Breakthrough in European Defence
The State of the Union Address by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen marks an important breakthrough in European defence.
First of all, it is a clear attempt to overcome the legacy of Europe’s historically established defence mentality. The Address sends a strong message: the status quo in established thinking, doctrines and decision-making is not an option when we are discussing the future of European defence readiness.
The Commission President’s message was clear: until now, we have mainly been speaking about a “big bang” in material defence readiness — defence investment, production and procurement. Now the time is coming for a “big bang” in institutional defence readiness. Institutional defence readiness is about how we are going to organise ourselves for the defence of the European continent.
Such attention to institutional defence readiness is very much needed. First, it is necessary for the development of a new European defence architecture, taking into account the concept of “NATO 3.0”, with Europe assuming primary responsibility. Second, there is a need to integrate into such an architecture countries that are not members of the EU, such as Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Norway and Canada.
But “institutional defence readiness” is also essential for the major development of large pan-European collective projects that strengthen our material defence readiness. The status quo — the deep fragmentation of defence industries, defence investment, defence procurement and the defence market — is a major obstacle to urgently ramping up our material defence readiness. Such fragmentation also prevents us from building large-scale pan-European defence projects.
Ursula von der Leyen was very clear in her State of the Union Address: we face a crisis of the status quo in today’s defence and in the security architecture of the European continent: “So, as the threat level climbs, so must Europe’s preparedness./…/.
We already have many tools. And we are strengthening our work with NATO. But our doctrine, our institutions and our decision-making have not kept pace with the new reality. Our systems were made for a different world. They are driven by well-intentioned attempts at consensus and compromise. But we need to consider whether they are still fit for purpose.”
It is a very clear call for “big bang” reforms in our institutional defence readiness: “But our doctrine, our institutions and our decision-making have not kept pace with the new reality. Our systems were made for a different world.”
You cannot be defence-ready if the entire architecture of your defence institutions is not defence-ready. This is the alpha and omega of any area of public policy — education, policing or defence. If you do not have the proper institutions to govern and manage a public policy, you will fail to deliver that public service.
And the Commission President offers a bold idea for overcoming this status quo crisis — for achieving a “big bang” in the development of European institutional defence readiness: “And I believe we must go further still. For a long time, we have discussed a leaders’ format focused on the security of our continent. With partners like Canada, Norway, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and others involved. This is even more urgent now, given the nature and scale of the risks at play. This is why we will set out our ideas to make a European Security Council a reality. The urgency is clear.”
The European Security Council thus emerges as a clear proposal for finding a way to “keep pace with the new reality”.
The European Security Council will need to provide broader answers concerning both the institutional and the geographical architecture of European defence: first, how our doctrines, institutions and decision-making need to be transformed so that they can keep pace with the new reality; and second, how to integrate into the European defence architecture, on an equal footing, not only EU Member States but also Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Norway and Canada.
What the Commission President announced regarding a European Security Council is not only about institutions. It is also about a broader European Defence Union that could evolve around such a Security Council.
These ideas announced by the Commission President will certainly not materialise immediately. There will be discussions, different ideas and proposals about how to establish the Security Council and how it should operate. Ideas of this kind already exist and are being widely discussed today, just as similar proposals were announced and debated much earlier.
Many papers by experts, politicians, parliamentarians and political leaders have been devoted to the idea of a European Security Council. In recent years, I have published and spoken publicly on more than one occasion about this kind of institutional defence readiness and about a European Security Council.
The details of the proposal for a European Security Council may become clearer after the European Security Strategy, which is being prepared by the Commission President and the HRVP, is published.
But even before the details begin to emerge, we need to understand why this State of the Union Address, and its language on defence, represents an important breakthrough.
First, this is the first time that the question of how we should build a new European defence and security architecture has been officially put on the table. This is different from earlier occasions when, for example, Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel publicly proposed the idea of a European Security Council back in 2018, but the idea did not move onto the official agenda.
Second, and even more importantly, the idea of a Security Council and the related concept of a European Defence Union are beginning to gain significant and broad support among major stakeholders: European institutions and national governments.
Even before the Commission President announced this new initiative, similar ideas were being actively discussed, both formally and informally, in the European Parliament through various parliamentary reports and resolutions, as well as through the very active informal, cross-party “European Defence Union Group” of 30 MEPs, led by Dutch Green MEP Reinier van Lanschot. The group published a strong statement on Europe Day: “The European Commission and the European Parliament are ready [for European Defence Union]. Now we need the political impulse of national governments. Our appeal to all Member States on Europe Day is therefore simple: build a European Defence Union – and now”.
Sergey Lagodinsky, a German Green MEP, published a broad analytical paper on the creation of a European Security Council.
The Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament are pushing for the development of a European Single Market for defence, which they call “a strategic imperative and a cornerstone of a true European Defence Union”.
Some argue that Member States would prefer to preserve the existing status quo and will not support the bold ideas for a new European security architecture presented by the Commission President.
Perhaps the picture is not so negative. Let us remember that some of today’s national leaders were among the first to speak, almost ten years ago, about the need for a European Security Council — for example, President Emmanuel Macron, representing liberal political forces. Spain’s Socialist government has difficulties raising additional funds for Spain’s defence, but it is very supportive of the idea of common European defence, including a European Army. At the beginning of this year, Germany’s CDU, under the leadership of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, included support for a European Security Council in its party programme. Guido Crosetto, Italy’s Defence Minister, is actively promoting the idea of a Continental European Defence Community.
The European People’s Party, under the leadership of Manfred Weber MEP, made a historically important declaration in its Summit Statement of 18 June 2026: the EU “need[s] a European Security Council involving also like-minded non-EU countries”.
It is worth recalling that the EPP Summit Statement was agreed by all EPP leaders of national governments. At the time of the Statement, 14 members of the European Council belonged to or were associated with the EPP. This means that more than half of all EU Member States had an EPP representative as Prime Minister or President. And all of them agreed that Europe needs a European Security Council.
Importantly, the EPP Summit placed the call for a European Security Council within a broader vision of what Europe needs in order to develop into a strong geopolitical actor. This requires “greater political cohesion” among European countries and even “rapidly deployable reaction forces ready to respond immediately to emergencies”. Emergencies also require the operationalisation of Article 42(7), and a European Security Council is important in the context of such emergencies as well.
I have set out all these political facts simply to show that the breakthrough in European defence is ripe to become a reality. And it starts with the establishment of a European Security Council and the development of a genuine European Defence Union.
We need to remember that the Treaty on European Union contains two clear provisions relating to security and defence. On the one hand, according to Article 4(2) TEU, within the European Union “national security remains the sole responsibility of each Member State.” On the other hand, Article 42(2) TEU places a clear obligation on Member States to move towards a common European defence: “The common security and defence policy shall include the progressive framing of a common Union defence policy. This will lead to a common defence, when the European Council, acting unanimously, so decides.”
With the Commission President’s State of the Union Address, we are witnessing a breakthrough towards the common defence of Europe. It will take time, but the first steps have been taken. We cannot run away from our Treaty obligation to begin creating a common defence. And the threats we face demand that we learn to fight as Europe, not merely as a combination of 27 Member States.
We also need to do this in order to advance “the process of creating an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe” (Article 1(2) TEU). That is another Treaty obligation for all of us.
Let us not be afraid of becoming a closer union. Let us not be afraid of unity — including in defence. Unity makes us stronger!
