Borrell calls on Europe to prepare for war
9 April 2024 17:42
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said that a full-scale military conflict on the European continent is “no longer a fantasy”, so the EU must radically change its approach to defence. He said this in his speech at the economic forum in Brussels, Komersant ukrainskyi 
citing Euractiv.
“Russia threatens Europe. It [the war] will not start tomorrow, but we cannot deny the reality,” Borrell said,
– borrell said.
In particular, he argues, Europe needs to take a new approach to defence funding, as the current model does not meet the challenges of the times. He is referring to the collective defence system of Europe.
“The EU member states created the [European] Defence Agency, but did not fund it. We need a new intergovernmental funding mechanism, comparable to the one we created during the [eurozone] financial crisis,”
– said Josep Borrell.
Some EU leaders, such as Estonia, have called for this funding to be raised by increasing common debt through joint defence bonds. Another proposal is to transfer the proceeds of Russian assets frozen in Europe to the European Peace Fund (EPF).
The newspaper also wrote about “more radical calls for a relaxation of the bloc’s rules” that would allow the EU budget to finance a common defence sector, but did not say what exactly this meant.
Most current EU efforts are considered by member states themselves to be insufficient to create the financial capacity to build a common security system.
