17-04-2024
The EU defence market must be more integrated, create champions, get access to cash and give the Commission overseeing powers, Enrico Letta’s audit says, going fiercely against member states’ protectorship.
It’s the same drones and almost the same missiles. But Israel’s outstanding air defences and the decisive help it got from a mighty coalition of allies, including the US, wildly surpass anything Ukraine can hope for.
Britain's defence ministry on Friday (12 April) said it would install lasers on warships designed to cheaply shoot down drones from 2027, five years earlier than previously expected, under reforms designed to speed up the deployment of new technology.
It often happens that news flying below the radar ends up being quite significant. Case in point: The announcement that two dozen German soldiers arrived in Vilnius on Monday, with a further 150 due to join them later this year, barely made headlines outside Lithuania.
The EU has put together a framework document, based on the bloc's existing and ongoing efforts, to give Ukraine lasting security commitments, according to a draft by the bloc’s diplomatic service (EEAS), seen by Euractiv. The draft document, dated 8 April, …
Finland's new President Alexander Stubb said on Wednesday (10 April) he wants a clear distinction between EU and NATO on defence matters, with industrial policy and funds on one side, and military planning and threat countering on the other.
The campaign is on to find a new chair of the EU’s highest military body, the EU Military Committee (EUMC), with three countries competing for the post, one month before the election.
A full-scale conflict in Europe is “no longer a fantasy” and Europeans must find new ways to financially prepare for a potentially wider war on the continent, the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell warned on Tuesday (9 April).
.The EU's operation in the Red Sea to protect commercial ships from attacks by Houthi rebels is showing results but remains stuck in a small area of operation due to a lack of ships and other assets, officials said on Monday (8 April).
Turning 75 on Thursday (4 April), NATO will celebrate the success of its open-door policy that has charmed many over the decades but will remain keenly aware that it is facing possibly the biggest security challenges since its inception.
On the latest episode of our daily podcast Today in the EU, we’re looking at today’s NATO meeting in Brussels.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday (3 April) confirmed that the military alliance's members will look into the organisation taking a greater coordination role in military aid deliveries to Ukraine, but stayed wary of giving way to a new fund.
The French far-left La France Insoumise (LFI) would be in favour of France providing help to a NATO country attacked by Russia, its lead candidate, Manon Aubry, told national public radio on Wednesday (3 April), hinting at a softening of the party's long-lasting anti-NATO stance.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and those who support him are facing an uphill battle for the NATO top job, likely to delay the decision by weeks.
NATO members are considering transitioning coordination of military deliveries to Ukraine as well as a €100 billion fund to secure long-term support and be able to weather any major political shift across the Western military alliance.
Germany’s ruling Social Democrats are facing a rift over the government's Ukraine policy as a group of notable historians within the party denounced on Wednesday (27 March) Chancellor Olaf Scholz's 'ambiguous rhetoric' towards Russia.
The West should aim to create more "strategic difficulties" in a bid to reign in Russia's behaviour, with the first priority being to "stop the aggression against Ukraine", an area where NATO is not doing enough, Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billström told Euractiv.
Paris is prepared to requisition "personnel, stocks or production tools" to accelerate the production of armaments by the domestic industry, France's Minister for Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, said on Tuesday (26 March).
Spain's decision to recognise Palestine as an independent state is not rewarding terrorism, Israel's claims otherwise are "nonsense", according to Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares in an interview on Tuesday (26 March)
Defence ministers Boris Pistorius and Sébastien Lecornu shared major breakthroughs on bilateral defence collaboration on Friday (22 March), announcing that both countries will officially start developing a new tank as well as produce military equipment in Ukraine.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, ramping up EU defence industry production has been on the agenda of member states' leaders, but it is only slowly beginning to gain traction.
EU leaders are looking at a serious debate on Thursday (21 March) about how to fund the ramp-up of the bloc’s defence industry to answer Ukraine's needs and match the Europeans’ ambition to become an independent security player.
Facing a new sense of urgency, EU leaders are set to meet in Brussels on Thursday (21 March) to discuss making military support to Ukraine more sustainable while ramping up their own defences.
EU member states on Tuesday (19 March) agreed on a deal that will see EU Galileo satellites launched from US territory in a last-ditch effort and extraordinary measure to save their space programme.
