what does Europe do against threats?

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  Ardy Stemerding

  European Union correspondent

Today all heads of government of the European Union will meet in Brussels for the last summit of this year. Safety is the most important topic there. The approach is what the EU does to defend itself against attacks from outside, in an increasingly hostile world.

A gloomy list to start with: disruptions to GPS signals causing problems with European air traffic, suspected sabotage due to broken sea cables, exploding postal packages, cyber attacks and influence campaigns during various elections in Europe.

These are incidents that NATO boss Mark Rutte referred to when he said last week: “We may not be at war, but it is certainly not a time of peace either.”

In the speech, which caused a stir, Rutte mainly focused on the governments of the NATO countries, which he believes urgently need to increase their defense budgets. But it is clear that the countries will also have to work in an EU context.

An EU army does not exist, so for the time being the member states have to rely on NATO for defense. Almost all of them are members of the alliance. What can be arranged within the EU is to strengthen the resilience of residents, for example, by purchasing emergency packages. Or researching influence campaigns on TikTok.

Also high on the priority list: ensuring that the EU becomes bigger and more powerful through expansion or by concluding trade agreements with other countries. These are all attempts to do something about the growing influence of China and Russia in the world.

It has now also become clear that EU countries should rely less on the United States when it comes to defense and security; Future President Trump has made that clear. And so the EU wants to work on a much stronger defense industry. And ensure that countries can cooperate better with each other militarily, for example by better coordinating their equipment.

That costs a lot of money. President of the European Commission Von der Leyen previously mentioned an amount of 500 billion euros, for the defense industry alone. In the short term, there is probably still something to be achieved from existing funds, but in the long term more is needed.

Especially when you consider that the EU will probably have to provide a much larger share of support for Ukraine in the future, again as a result of the election of Donald Trump.

A frequently mentioned option to obtain that money is for EU countries to borrow together. Then you immediately touch on one of the most sensitive points in the discussion about a response to external threats. Because although Minister Veldkamp of Foreign Affairs (NSC) said this week in Brussels that he feels the pressure to “make a geopolitical impact” as an EU, this is a bridge too far for the Netherlands.

A country that until recently was on the same page as the Netherlands has made a U-turn on this point. For Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen, joint borrowing is no longer a taboo, in view of the increasing security risks in Europe. The mighty Germany is still in the same camp as the Netherlands.

Now, borrowing together is not the only way to obtain additional resources. It is important to mutually agree on where the money should come from. And it is unlikely that EU countries, which in many cases are mainly busy with themselves, will quickly reach a unanimous decision. Just look at the political crises in France and Germany. And this is just one of the many difficult choices ahead.

Today’s summit is the first under the new President of the European Council (the meeting of heads of government), António Costa. It is also the first EU summit after the new European Commission took office. In the absence of powerful EU countries, it is mainly this new team, with committee chairman Von der Leyen as figurehead, which must determine the course. Moreover, the Commission cannot make decisions itself (the Member States do that), it can only make proposals and implement policy.

It is clear that no firm conclusions will be reached tonight about the future of European security policy. There will mainly be a discussion about a strategy. The heads of government will meet again at a summit early next year; it will be entirely focused on the theme of security and defense.

The threats are concrete and government leaders say they feel the urgency, but they still give themselves some time.