News Agency Brussels, October 24 European defense autonomy: a sense of reality full of ideals

The New York Times reporter Chen Bin Jing Jin Huang Zhang Zhang.

The EU summit ended in Brussels, Belgium, on the 23rd night. The summit emphasized continued support for Ukraine, but failed to agree on the source of funding for Ukraine. On defence issues, the European Council called on EU member states to implement the ¡°Defense Preparedness Roadmap 2030¡± (hereinafter referred to as the ¡°Roadmap¡±), but the summit results did not explicitly mention the ¡°Adopted¡± ¡°Roadmap¡±.

Media and experts say the EU summit once again shows that the vision of European defence autonomy is "ideal-filled", but faces multiple realities such as institutional, financial and technological difficulties.

"Limited consensus" can hardly hide internal differences

The summit discussed issues such as assisting Ukraine, enhancing European defense and competitiveness, and the situation in the Middle East. Politico, an American political news website, commented that the summit only reached a "limited consensus" in areas such as strengthening defense independence and simplifying regulatory procedures, and there were many differences among EU member states.

Experts believe that finding a balance between building a ¡°united and competitive Europe¡± and safeguarding the interests of the member states is a real test for European leaders.

Aid to Ukraine was the first and most concerned topic at the summit. In order to find new sources of funding for Ukraine, the European Commission is promoting the use of Russian assets frozen in Europe to provide Ukraine with a total of approximately 140 billion euros in "compensation loans." Uzbek President Zelensky, who attended the summit, called on the EU to promote the loan plan as soon as possible.

However, there is a heated debate among EU member states.

Currently, about 90% of frozen Russian assets in the EU are controlled by the European Settlement Bank based in Belgium. Belgian Prime Minister Dewey said at the summit that unless EU member states share financial and legal risks and each automatically use Russian sovereign assets frozen in their own territory, he will block the EU's proposed loan program to Ukraine.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Friden said the EU must first clarify its legal responsibilities to Ukraine¡¯s ¡°indemnity loan¡± scheme. Italian Prime Minister Meloni also said the EU must avoid undermining ¡°economies and the financial and monetary stability of the euro area.¡±

Jian Junbo, director of the Center for China-EU Relations at Fudan University, believes that the EU's plan to use frozen Russian assets to provide "compensation loans" to Ukraine is not feasible. Russia does not recognize its liability for "compensation", and this practice will also damage the overall financial credibility of Europe.

"Roadmap" depicts the vision of defence autonomy

In the context of the uncertainty of the Trump administration¡¯s commitment to European security, the pursuit of defence autonomy has become a common consensus among European nations.

The summit communiqué showed that the European Council called on EU member states to implement the "Defense Preparedness Roadmap 2030" previously submitted by the European Commission, so that Europe and NATO can strengthen defense capabilities in a comprehensive and coordinated manner.

The Roadmap sets clear targets, delivery deadlines and progress indicators for the White Paper "Ready for 2030" and the "Rearmed Europe" program released by the European Union in March this year and proposes four priority "flag" projects, namely "European Drone Defense Initiative", "Eastern Wing Monitoring", "Air Defense Shield" and "Defense Space Shield", stressing the capacity gaps in key areas through joint development and joint procurement.

The "Roadmap" proposes to establish a "military mobile area" covering the entire EU by 2027, and realize the rapid mobilization of troops and equipment in Europe through unified rules and land, sea and air transportation networks; By 2030, we will promote the formation of an EU defense equipment market with unified rules, pay close attention to production capacity in the fields of air defense and anti-missile, drones and space systems, and shorten the equipment delivery cycle.

Fabian Zuleg, chief economist of the European Policy Center, a Belgian think tank, believes that the EU hopes that its role in European defense issues will change from "investor" to "actor", combining continuous military and financial support, defense investment and diplomatic discourse power. Simply put, Europe "must be on the table" in negotiations involving European security.

Multiple Difficulty Reflections ¡°Bone Sense Reality¡±

However, the summit results document joined by the EU member states does not explicitly mention "adopt" the "roadmap", but uses "calling the member states to implement" and other references. Experts believe that this vague expression shows that many EU countries have doubts about the "roadmap", and Europe to defence autonomy faces multiple difficulties.

The roadmap is part of the European defence integration process, and defence integration has always been a sensitive issue within the European Union. The major European Union countries such as Germany and Germany are concerned that the European Commission can interfere with national defence policies through the "roadmap".

Wang Mingwu, a professor at the Beijing Foreign Language University Institute of International Relations, said the crisis in Ukraine further demonstrated that Europe is still insecure with NATO and the United States. EU countries may continue to propose and promote defense integration projects over a period of time, but NATO¡¯s role in collective security in Europe is actually strengthening.

Third, financial and technological difficulties. European countries such as France are facing debt problems, and the EU¡¯s plan to use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine also reflects the EU¡¯s huge pressure in terms of funding, which will limit the implementation of the ¡°route map¡±. Jean-Claude Juncker believes that the EU is also facing constraints in technical capabilities, the feasibility of projects such as the ¡°Defense Space Shield¡± and the ¡°European Drone Defense Initiative¡± is still to be verified, and related projects in the short term probability will stay on paper.

Zuleg believes that the "Defense Preparations Roadmap 2030" is a necessary step for Europe to pursue defense autonomy, but it faces many difficulties in its specific implementation. To turn its vision into reality, the EU needs to overcome "challenges such as political hesitation, technical bottlenecks and fiscal constraints." Its progress depends on whether European countries can "translate commitments into contracts" and establish a truly integrated defense industry by 2030. foundation.