The European Commission has today issued a communication on military mobility. The Greens/EFA group has welcomed the focus on increasing cooperation, but stresses that pooling and sharing of resources, not greater EU funding, is the key to a secure EU military capacity.
Greens/EFA spokesperson for security and defence Reinhard Bütikofer comments:
“It’s good that the Commission is taking steps to make cooperation between the Member States armed forces easier. The EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy can only be effective if European armed forces work together with the minimum of bureaucratic barriers. However, closer cooperation should not be an excuse to pump EU money into an already bloated sector. While we welcome some of the plans on mobility, we strongly reject the idea of militarising the trans-European transport network and related civilian EU funds for purposes which are beyond the scope of the Common Security and Defence Policy. What is missing in today’s action plan is proposals on how to increase mobility of proper EU military operations which still rely in some cases on leased air lift by third countries or private companies.”
