Transcription
Multiple times within the past week or so, the EU's defense commissioner, Andreas Kabilius, has floated the idea of a European defense union, an intergovernmental treaty that would include willing EU member states, Ukraine, the UK, and Norway, to create an integrated union of defense capabilities across the continent. It comes amid discussions about a potential US military withdrawal from Europe, which analysts seem to think is increasingly likely and is the latest in the EU's push to become self-sufficient in security and defense.
Moreover, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zalinski also seemed to pitch something similar in his interview on the Rest Is Politics leading podcast recently, saying there are strong countries which are part of Europe, the UK, Ukraine, and Turkey, which will be stronger than the army of Russia. So, in this video, we'll take a look at Europe's various defense initiatives, this latest proposal for a European Defense Union, and how it could work. Never miss an episode and always feel in the loop by subscribing and ringing the bell.
First, let's start with a broad summary of what the EU is currently doing on defense. Back in July 2024, when European Commission President Ursula Vanderelion was reelected for a second term, the second top priority in her mandate after improving European competitiveness was a new era for European defense and security, as well as boosting joint procurement, investing more into Europe's defense industry, creating a single market for defense, and strengthening EU civil and military preparedness. This largely came amid fears both of rising Russian aggression towards Europe and of a second Donald Trump presidency in the US. Given that Trump had repeatedly derided NATO during the 2024 US election campaign and even said he would encourage Russia to quote do whatever the hell they want to NATO members that didn't spend enough on defense.
As such, over the past couple of years, the EU has been trying to build a network of other defense partnerships that don't depend on the US or NATO. In March, for instance, the EU signed a security and defense partnership with Australia following similar agreements with both Canada and the UK in 2025. And back in 2024, the EU struck a series of bespoke defense pacts with Moldova, Norway, Japan, South Korea, Albania, and North Macedonia.
As well as expanding its network of bilateral defense pacts, the EU has also been working on ways to improve internal collaboration on defense. For instance, in October, a few weeks after Russian drones had entered and crashed down on European territory, the EU announced four new intra-EU flagship projects: The European Drone Defense Initiative, the Eastern Flank Watch, the European Air Shield, and the European Space Shield, all to be launched this year and completed by 2028 at the latest. The EU is pushing for 40% of all defense procurement to be joint procurement by the end of 2027.
Similarly, in November, the European Commission unveiled its plans for a military Schengen zone, an EU-wide military mobility area to allow the rapid transfer of troops and equipment across countries in the bloc. Under the plans, EU countries will have 3 days in peace time and just 6 hours in emergencies to grant permission to other European armies that want to cross their border, with the current clearance time being weeks to months.
As such, this European Defense Union proposal is the latest in a series of big EU defense initiatives based on an intergovernmental treaty and potentially modeled on the EU Schengen zone. The idea has been floated by EU defense commissioner Andreas Cabilius multiple times over the past week. It would focus specifically on the integration of defense capabilities between participating EU countries, Ukraine, the UK, and Norway, and would also serve as a quote strong security guarantee for Ukraine.
Essentially, the European Defense Union would overcome the limits of the EU's existing treaties on industry and single market policy, which tend to treat defense as a matter of national security and therefore limits how far the EU can integrate and coordinate continent-wide defense initiatives. Specifically, article 346 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, or TFEU, states that any member state may take such measures as it considers necessary for the protection of the essential interests of its security which are connected with the production of or trade in arms, munitions, and war material. While this clause was intended to protect member states' national industry, in practice it's been used by governments to justify favoring their own domestic defense suppliers instead of working collaboratively, thereby leading to a fragmented market and duplication of systems and capabilities within the EU.
While the European Defense Union is really just a vague concept at the moment, and we don't have any concrete details, on Tuesday, a report by two researchers at the Center of European Policy Studies outlined the legal ways the EU could achieve this defense union, suggesting it could be done via enhanced cooperation under articles 326 to 334 of the TFEU. Because this enhanced cooperation mechanism lets a group of EU member states move ahead with policy even when not all 27 can agree. This would dilute the veto power of less willing member states who might want to block defense integration.
Moreover, the fact it would come under the EU's current legal framework would allow EU institutions to contribute financial, diplomatic, operational, and strategic planning resources to the union, which could over time evolve into a common defense capability like NATO, but with a stronger industrial base inside the EU. A defense union could also potentially facilitate the joint stockpiling of weapons and ammunition at the EU level.
Finally, there's also a lot of emphasis on Ukraine whenever the defense union is mentioned. It essentially looks like the EU is trying to fold in three non-EU countries that could make big contributions to European defense in different ways: Ukraine with its cutting-edge drone tech, the UK with its established military, and Norway with its massive sovereign wealth fund. Cabilius also suggested that integration of Ukraine into the single market and into a European defense union at the same time could be a clear part of the European strategic approach towards Ukraine. In other words, this sounds like a way to bring Ukraine, the UK, and Norway closer to the EU on defense and industrial cooperation without full EU membership.
The EU does seem to be expecting some opposition, or at least skepticism from member states, farmers, and businesses in Eastern Europe regarding the further integration of Ukraine into the EU market. Acknowledging this, Cabilius said, "We can understand some of those concerns. They were very similar when Poland and the Baltic states were joining the European Union back in 2004. In 2000, when Lithuania, my country, started negotiations for our integration, our GDP per capita in PPP terms was reaching only 35% of the EU average. Now, the same parameter is around 95%. The same will happen with Ukraine. With integration towards the EU, Ukraine in 20 to 25 years' time will become a new economic tiger of Europe."
So, you're probably wondering what's next for this story and how it's going to develop over the coming days and weeks. But it might be overwhelming trying to sift through the thousands of news articles trying to find one that you can trust not to feed you a false narrative. Luckily, we have a simple solution for you, and that solution is Ground News. You've probably heard us talk about Ground News before, the app and website that shows how the same story is covered across the political spectrum. But now more than ever, we need Ground News to truly understand what's really going on in the world around us. It's difficult finding trustworthy news sources. So, Ground News will do the hard work for you, compiling thousands of articles and putting them in one easy-to-access place. Each article comes with a breakdown into bias distribution, factuality, and ownership of each individual source.
For instance, if we take this story on the European Defense Union, we can easily see that nine sources are currently reporting on it with more coverage coming from the left. Looking at the headlines, we can dive deeper to understand the differences in reporting on each side, with the left focusing on the inclusion of Ukraine and the right framing it as the inclusion of non-EU allies. Our absolute favorite feature, though, is their blind spot feed. Here you can see all the stories you might not have seen on your usual feed. So, even if you don't agree with the reporting, it's good to step out of your bubble. And it's not just us that feels this way. The Nobel Peace Center also proudly endorses Ground News, calling it an excellent way to stay informed, avoid echo chambers, and expand your worldview.
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