EU to propose new security strategy

The European Commission, together with the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, will propose a new European security strategy that will include the creation of a collective response mechanism for hybrid attacks that do not reach the level of armed aggression, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in her annual State of the Union address to the European Parliament.

“We need our own European action plan against hybrid threats. We urgently need agreement on how to respond to certain incidents that fall below the level of armed aggression but clearly threaten our national security,” she said.

The new mechanism could serve as an equivalent of Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which provides for consultations among allies when the security of one of them is threatened.

“I believe the time has come for our own European Article 4 – or an emergency security protocol. If one of the member states activates it, all member states will come together to coordinate a European response, prevent further escalation and mitigate the consequences,” she said.

Von der Leyen linked the need for a new strategy to the growing number of hybrid threats in Europe, including cyberattacks, sabotage, arson and violations of airspace by drones.

“We should have no illusions about what is happening: hybrid threats to Europe are becoming less and less hybrid and more and more real,” she said.

As part of the new strategy, the European Commission also intends to put forward proposals for establishing a European Security Council with the participation of partner countries.

“We will set out our ideas to make the European Security Council a reality,” von der Leyen said.

According to her, Canada, Norway, Ukraine and the United Kingdom could participate in such a format, among others.

Von der Leyen also announced plans to establish a new European Strategic Capabilities Instrument aimed at developing key defense capabilities, ranging from air and missile defense to strategic airlift, aerial refueling, space and cyber capabilities.

“Only together does Europe have the scale needed to build them,” she said, adding that the new instrument would be fully aligned with NATO.

“Europe will defend every square meter of its territory,” the European Commission president said.