The head of community diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, has warned that it is urgent to improve military mobility because “Europe faces unprecedented security threats” for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the “hybrid war” that the Kremlin has launched against member states.
“The rapid deployment of European armed forces is essential for European defence. We must ensure that the forces are in the right place at the right time. It’s very simple: the faster we can mobilize our forces, the greater our deterrence and defense capacity will be,” says Kallas.
Currently, permission to move an armored column can take up to 45 daysand the average is around 10 days. Each Member State has its own rules and requirements, which greatly complicates the movement of troops in Europe. The new regulations establish a maximum period of 3 daysthanks to a single permit valid in all 27 countries.
Brussels also proposes creating a emergency mechanism for cases of serious crises, the activation of which would be in the hands of the Governments, which will allow Member States to move large contingents without the need for prior permits.
A notification 6 hours in advance will be enough for troops to cross borders with absolute priority. This urgent procedure will not only facilitate European maneuvers, but also NATO movements.
The regulations also eliminates a whole series of legal barriers that hinder military logistics. The movement of troops and tanks will be exempt from the rules that restrict traffic on holidays or weekends; Rules on driving times or noise are relaxed and the transport of dangerous or oversized loads is made easier.
Infrastructure is another bottleneck: bridges that cannot support the weight of a tank or tunnels that are too narrow.
The EU will increase the funding available for dual-use civil-military infrastructure from 1.7 billion to 17 billion euros, identifying a total of 500 urgent projects to eliminate logistical bottlenecks in each of the four priority corridorswhich have not been made public.
Member States must also rstrengthen the protection of critical infrastructures against drones, sabotage or cyber attacks.
Finally, Brussels will create a common pool of capabilitiesfrom transport platforms to military carriages, landing ships or hospital trains.
With a single point of coordination in each country and a permanent working group at European level, Brussels wants to end the current mess and ensure that, when the time comes, Europe can move as quickly as modern warfare demands.
The regulation still has to be debated and approved by both the European Parliament and the governments of the 27.
In parallel, the European Commission published this Wednesday the Roadmap for the Transformation of the Defense Industry. An initiative that aims to accelerate the modernization of European industrial capacities, encourage investments, attract new technological actors and reinforce strategic autonomy.
The plan is aimed at four priorities: boosting funding for industry, accelerating innovation, expanding access to defense capabilities and developing the skills necessary to sustain European competitive advantage.