France and EU wishing to speed up troop movements in Europe

The European Commission is expected to present a package on military mobility in mid-November to simplify procedures and facilitate movement throughout the bloc, Euronews writes.

French authorities are calling for the EU to quickly identify mobility corridors for the military and to set up a coordinating authority to ensure troops and equipment from across the bloc can quickly move east if a larger conflict breaks out.

“The war of aggression being waged by Russia on European territory, on Ukrainian territory, makes it likely I would say, that our forces will be heavily engaged on European territory on our continent,” Air Force Brigadier General Fabrice Feola, who commands the French military’s Operations and Transport Support Centre, told reporters on Thursday morning.

Currently, it can at times take more than 10 days for France to receive the necessary permits from other member states to move military personnel or equipment through, despite a European target of five days maximum, the general said.