If a European Union (EU) member state is attacked, how much time would need to pass before the other members allow the passage of soldiers and equipment across their borders in order to provide reinforcement? The new plan could limit how long one member can hold back another’s army.
According to the new proposal of the European Commission on the “military Schengen”, member states will have only three days in peacetime and six hours in emergency situations to enable the passage of the army and military equipment of other members across their territory, in order to significantly improve military mobility within the Union.
“Today, in order to move military equipment and troops, let’s say, from west to east, unfortunately, months are needed,” said Apostolos Tzitzikostas, the European commissioner for sustainable transport and tourism. “What we want to achieve is for that to happen within a few days.”
“You cannot defend a continent if you cannot move across it,” he said. “That is very clear. That is why we are creating this military Schengen.”
The rules of the 27 members are not harmonized
The package called “Military Mobility” will be officially presented later on Wednesday. It is the latest in a series of plans that the Commission has presented since the beginning of the year with the goal of significantly strengthening the EU’s defence by the end of the decade – by which time, according to some intelligence services, Russia may have the capacity to attack another European country.
One of the key measures will be accelerating the procedures for approving the cross-border movement of the military. Currently, the rules of the 27 members are not harmonized, and some countries do not respond for weeks to the request of another member to move troops or equipment across their territory.
The Commission wants to shorten this to a maximum of three days in peace and only six hours in emergency cases, with the assumption that approval in the latter case will be given automatically.
Short-term investments that quickly deliver results
The plan envisions a new, improved system of European military mobility, modelled after the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, which enables members to quickly receive assistance after natural disasters or those caused by human action.
This also includes a “solidarity fund for military mobility”, in which members will be able to free up their resources, such as flatbed freight trains, ferries, or strategic air transport, so that other countries can use them, and a “military mobility catalogue” with a list of dual-use transportation and logistics capacities from the civil sector that can be used for military needs.
All that work will be coordinated by a new group for military transport, composed of national coordinators of each member. These coordinators will also determine financing priorities for selected projects from a package of 500 infrastructure plans that have been identified as necessary for improving the four agreed military corridors, whose exact locations are still kept secret.
The goal is to modernize roads, railway lines, ports, airports, tunnels, and bridges so that they can withstand the weight and dimensions of military equipment.
“Solid logistics networks make the difference between victory and defeat in war,” said Tzitzikostas, adding that the “focus is on short-term investments that quickly deliver results in order to increase capacities as soon as possible.”
Tzitzikostas estimates that around 100 billion euros will be needed for all this, but the EU has so far allocated only 1.7 billion in the current multiannual budget, which lasts until 2027, an amount which the commissioner described as “a drop in the ocean.”
The proposal for the next seven-year budget that begins in 2028 foresees somewhat less than 18 billion euros, ten times more, but still far from what is needed.
Still, Tzitzikostas says that this is not the only source of financing available to member states.
Since this concerns dual-use infrastructure, members will also be able to use funds from the cohesion policy, aimed at reducing regional inequalities, as well as funds from the SAFE program for defence loans.
EU member states, most of which are also in NATO, will also be able to count these investments towards their new, significantly increased defence spending target within the Alliance.
Still, Tzitzikostas says, “it’s not all about money. This package also relates to the framework for action.”
“The geopolitical situation in the world today is not simple; therefore, we must learn to move faster, work more, and deliver results much earlier than would be expected,” he said.
