EU-Topdiplomat sagt, dass die Verteidigung des Blocks angepasst werden muss, um zu überleben – Kaja Kallas warnte, dass ein dauerhafter Bruch in den transatlantischen Beziehungen eine schnelle Überarbeitung des Sicherheitsansatzes des Blocks erfordern würde

In a speech at the European Defense Agency on Wednesday, she raised the ideas of creating European capabilities independent of the US as well as the possibility of establishing an EU military that would be financed and owned by the states.

Europe’s trust in the US as a defense partner has been shaken since President Donald Trump has repeatedly questioned his dedication to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and, more recently, threatened to take over Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of NATO-member Denmark.

Kallas warned that Europe was no longer a primary focus for the US.

“This shift has been ongoing for a while — it is structural, not temporary,” she said. “It means that Europe must step up — no great power in history has ever outsourced its survival and survived.”

Kallas proposed a list of ideas that would give Europe greater autonomy in defense and greater cohesion as Europeans within NATO, asking whether the 23 countries of the military alliance that are also EU members can be given “European capability targets.”
These targets, or NATO’s “homework” of what military equipment and assets to procure, are currently given to countries individually and with a high level of classification, making it hard for EU countries to spot synergies and coordinate.

Similarly, she strongly called for the EU and NATO to do a better job at sharing intelligence, which currently doesn’t happen formally due to the ongoing tensions between EU member Cyprus and NATO member Turkey. Currently, the sharing of information relies on individual allies, is imperfect and slow and makes it hard for the EU to target its funding to help countries do their NATO homework.

Kallas also called for the EU to “operationalize” its own mutual-defense clause, which so far has never been invoked.

She called for the EU to overcome the current need for unanimity in foreign policy decisions, which has paralyzed it in many instances due to certain countries’ systematic blocking, and to move to a qualified majority system.

The call for the EU to have its own military capabilities has been criticized by some in Europe, including NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who told lawmakers in Brussels Monday that Europe should “keep on dreaming” if it thinks it can defend itself without the US.