The decisions of the Extraordinary Summit of the European Council are the right response to the needs – assessed prof. Stanisław Koziej, retired brigade general, former head of the BBN. He noted that the threat from Russia and the approach of Donald Trump’s administration to the issue of joint defense is forced by activities such as the plan to reinforce Europe, even if they seem to differ from the traditional EU policy and treaty provisions.
“This is a forced necessity. At dawn, the European Union was a different project; There was – today – forgotten – the West European Union, which was a hard, military organization of Western Europe. In practice, ZEE did not work, and later it was absorbed by the European Union. The EU took over the mission of ZEJ, thus committing to completed defensive tasks, but in practice with the implementation of this mission was so -so, “said the Kozia editorial office of Defense24.pl.
According to him, this resulted, among others From the fact that Europe’s security was guaranteed by NATO: “EU Member States, in accordance with general doctrine, ensured defense through NATO, which was also reflected in the treaties. The Union felt in practice released from the obligation to deal with defense matters. “
“In today’s conditions, when on the one hand, military threats increased rapidly in connection with such and no other Russian policy course, and to the other – the risk to NATO introduced to the new Trump doctrine on the part of the United States means that the Union, wanting not wanting to become a defensive entity, means. The decisions that were made at the last peak are in my opinion the right response to new needs, “said Koziej.
“This huge money shows that the EU has a belief in the need to organize in defense matters, without looking at an ally from behind the Atlantic. Now it is important to develop this money optimally, that it will also benefit its own industrial potential, “he noted.
He drew attention to the missing and necessary union ability to command large military operations. The “second” unpunched “task, an unadded apple, is the ability to use this potential if it is built. The Union has no operational capabilities; The ability to command large operations is in NATO. As long as NATO remains a guarantee of Europe’s security, this is not a problem, but as the doubts about the involvement of the United States in NATO operations, which would be necessary to defend Europe, is growing, the need to build such operational abilities in the EU is growing, “he said. “I think that the time will come soon, if in American politics the course continues to get closer with Russia, to move away from allies, from treaty obligations within NATO,” he added.
He expressed the belief that the EU should begin with any possible planning and preparing the concept of building operational abilities, “when the belief that we will have to defend ourselves in case of what we will have to defend ourselves, without the direct participation of the United States, even if the US is favorable to us.” He pointed out that the NATO operational commands consist of largely American officers. “If the Americans did not want to operate in these structures, the EU should have any possible plans, how to take over these resources, European operational assets that are in the current NATO structures, so that they could work for the Union.” He pointed to such issues as the use of the north-east body in these activities.
“Each security strategy consists of a preparation and operational strategy. The operational strategy concerns the use of resources to carry out strategic tasks; Preparation – preparation of these funds. For now, the EU has been developing a preparation strategy at an accelerated pace – it builds Europe’s defense potential. But it will stand – in my opinion, it already faces – before the need to develop an operational strategy, which she has not yet dealt with outside of crisis situations, missions. It is about the strategy of defense of Europe, “he said.
On Thursday, at the extraordinary peak of the European Council, EU leaders accepted the plan to dispose of Europe. It provides, among others Loans of EUR 150 billion and exemption of defense expenditure from EU budget rigors. It also assumes raising the level of financing for defense projects by the European Investment Bank (EIB). The summit was convened in a relationship in suspension of American military assistance for Ukraine, American-Russian conversations without the participation of Ukraine and the signals of Trump’s administration of possible reduction of US involvement in Europe.
Until now, despite the establishment of a common security and defense policy, actions in the field of defense at EU level have been limited. The EU Treaty recognizes defense as a special domain underlying the sovereignty of the Member States. Most of them perceived European defense as composed of two elements: their own defense capabilities and collective defense, provided by NATO. The EU Treaty limits the use of the EU defense budget; The EU cannot have its own military resources. Member States, however, are obliged to provide help and support if one of them becomes a victim of armed assault on its territory.
In recent years, before the full -scale assault of Russia to Ukraine, and after the annexation of part of its territory, the EU took initiatives to strengthen defense cooperation between Member States, including increasing expenses for research and development projects in the field of defense.