EU Plans New System to Speed Up Military Mobility

Against the backdrop of the Russian threat of military operations spreading beyond Ukraine, the European Commission (EC) is preparing to present a new plan in November for the development of EU transport infrastructure and customs processes. The Financial Times reports this, citing European officials. The main goal of the initiative is to drastically reduce the time required for tanks, heavy artillery, and other military units to move across the European Union in the event of a possible military conflict.

This move is driven by serious fears that Russia could extend its military aggression beyond Ukraine's borders, requiring an unprecedented level of security and defense preparedness from Europe. The European Commission is developing this plan in close cooperation with the governments of member states and NATO, although officials note that discussions are still in the early stages.

One of the key proposed ideas is the creation of a common pool of "military mobility" resources, which would operate on the principle of a "solidarity fund." This is similar to the mechanism by which EU countries currently share firefighting equipment to combat seasonal wildfires on the continent. According to the draft, EU member states will be asked to contribute boats, planes, ferries, railway wagons, and trucks to a common "fund." If necessary, other states could quickly use these shared resources to rapidly move their military forces and equipment across the EU.

This plan is essentially designed to eliminate the bureaucratic and logistical obstacles that can currently significantly slow down the movement of military equipment from one country to another. It includes not only the modernization of physical infrastructure (bridges, roads, railways) to make them passable for heavy equipment but also the simplification of customs and legal procedures. This is a significant shift in the European Union's defense policy, indicating that Brussels is taking the potential military threat from the East seriously and aims to create a flexible and effective system to ensure collective security.