(Jan 28): Kaja Kallas, who leads foreign policy for the European Union, warned that a permanent rupture in transatlantic relations and the spread of “coercive power politics” requires the bloc to quickly overhaul its approach to security and take more responsibility for its own defence.
In a speech at the European Defense Agency on Wednesday, she raised the ideas of creating European capabilities independent of the US as well as the possibility of establishing an EU military that would be financed and owned by the member states.
Europe’s trust in the US as a defence partner has been shaken since President Donald Trump has repeatedly questioned his dedication to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) and, more recently, threatened to take over Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Nato-member Denmark.
Kallas warned that Europe was no longer a primary focus for the US.
“This shift has been ongoing for a while — it’s structural, not temporary,” she said. “It means that Europe must step up — no great power in history has ever outsourced its survival and survived.”
Kallas proposed a list of ideas that would give Europe greater autonomy in defence and greater cohesion as Europeans within Nato, asking whether the 23 countries of the military alliance that are also EU members can be given “European capability targets”.
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These targets, or Nato’s “homework” of what military equipment and assets to procure, are currently given to countries individually and with a high level of classification, making it hard for EU countries to spot synergies and coordinate.
The conversation on Europe’s defence took on a renewed sense of urgency after Trump threatened to hit European countries with extra tariffs because they opposed his move to annex Greenland. This has accelerated conversations about the EU’s autonomy.
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“We made a big mistake as Europeans when we cut down our military expenses,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a speech at Sciences Po in Paris on Wednesday. “If Europeans are not able and willing or capable to protect ourselves, then what are we?”
Kallas called for the EU and Nato to do a better job at sharing intelligence, which currently doesn’t happen formally due to the ongoing tensions between EU member Cyprus and Nato member Turkey. Currently, the sharing of information relies on individual allies, is imperfect and slow and makes it hard for the EU to target its funding to help countries do their Nato homework.
Kallas also said the EU should “operationalise” its own mutual-defence clause, which so far has never been invoked.
She called for the EU to overcome the current need for unanimity in foreign policy decisions, which has paralysed it in many instances due to certain countries’ systematic blocking, and to move to a qualified majority system.
The call for the EU to have its own military capabilities has been criticised by some in Europe, including Nato secretary general Mark Rutte, who told lawmakers in Brussels on Monday that Europe should “keep on dreaming” if it thinks it can defend itself without the US.
“It is Trump times,” Frederiksen said. “The old world is gone and I don’t think it’s going to return.”
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