The European Union aims to set up a 5,000-strong military response force by 2025. The initiative is one of the highlights of a new strategic security vision that the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense approved on Monday in Brussels.
The adoption of the Strategic Compass, as the strategy is known in European circles, was preceded by two years of work. It looks at the entire international security environment and spans the period up to 2030, but the 47-page end result is inevitably heavily influenced by the recent Russian military invasion of Ukraine and its profound impact on the European security architecture.
“This is not our answer to the war in Ukraine, but it is part of the answer, because it must make us militarily stronger,” said High Representative of European Foreign Policy Josep Borrell on Monday before the meeting. It is not just a question of spending more on defense and strengthening operational strength, but also of better coordinating those efforts at European level.
The eye-catcher of the strategy is the establishment of a rapid reaction force, which should number up to 5,000 troops and can be used, for example, for the evacuation of European citizens from conflict zones. This intervention force should be operational by 2025. The reaction force is intended to be an alternative to the 1,500-strong battlegroups that were set up fifteen years ago, but were never deployed due to a lack of political will and adequate financing.
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