STRASBOURG (FRANCE) (ITALPRESS) – European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen’s speech to the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg begins with a quote from Alcide de Gasperi. “70 years ago, Alcide de Gasperi said, ‘We need not only peace among ourselves, but we must also build a common defense. Not to threaten or conquer, but to act as a deterrent to every external attack driven by hatred against a United Europe. This is the task of our generation.”
From here follows the crucial passage, “Seventy years have passed, but our generation faces the same task because peace in the European Union can no longer be taken for granted. We are facing a European security crisis, but we know that it is in crises that Europe was built. So now is the time to achieve peace through strength. It is the time to work on a common defense, and on this I have seen a consensus in the European Council that is unprecedented and unimaginable just a few weeks ago.”
“The European security order has been disrupted, and many illusions have fallen,” he continued, “Since the end of the Cold War, people believed that Russia could be integrated into the European economic and security architecture, and others hoped to rely indefinitely on American protection. And so we let our guard down, cut defense spending from 3.5 percent to less than half thinking we could enjoy this peace dividend.”
For Von der Leyen, this attitude has only created a “security deficit.”
“The time for illusions is over: Europe is called upon to take charge of its own defense. Not in the distant future, but already today. Not with gradual steps, but with the courage that the situation demands,” the European Commission chairwoman concluded, reiterating the need in light of the developments in the war in Ukraine and for which it is necessary to “fill the gap in military supplies and provide it with solid security guarantees.”
For Von der Leyen, “this moment is not just about Ukraine, but about the entire security of the continent. Putin has proven to be a hostile neighbor. He is not reliable.”
And here a warning to the Europarliament: “Russia’s military system exceeds ours: the Kremlin spends more than all of Europe combined. European production is still too limited.”
Von der Leyen then spoke about the “ReArm Europe” defense plan presented the past few days. “Its logic is simple: we want to use all the financial levers at our disposal to strengthen and accelerate our production in defense,” he explained, “With the ReArm Europe plan we can mobilize up to 800 billion euros. Today we spend on average 2 percent of GDP on defense, and every analysis today agrees that we need to exceed 3 percent, but in the European budget it reaches only 1 percent of GDP. So it is obvious that the bulk of the investment can only come from the member states. And that’s why we want to activate the national escape clause under the new budget rules in a controlled and coordinated way for all member states.”
“The European Council then gave green light to the new financial instrument called SAFE, Security Action For Europe. We are offering member states up to 150 billion euros in loans to invest in accordance with a few key principles: they can focus on a few strategic choices (air defense, drones, munitions, missiles, cyber, AI…),” Von der Leyen continued. “To maximize the impact of our investments, these loans will have to finance purchases from European manufacturers to strengthen our defense industry with multi-year contracts.
Expected passage of his speech concerned the use of cohesion funds for defense spending, a possibility of use that had seen opposition from the entire Italian government.
Von der Leyen described it as “a possibility that we offer to the member states. These will have the possibility to redirect some of the unused funds to defense projects: infrastructure, research and development… All on a voluntary basis.”
– photo Ipa Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
