On Pax Europaea - independence and strength of Europe
Dear attendees,
The Netherlands and Lithuania, two low countries, vie for the lower ground. Our highest hill is 293 meters. Yours is 322 meters. So we are lower!
Like many of you, I enjoy cycling. Going downhill is easy, but uphill requires effort. In European defense, we have coasted downhill for too long. Americans did the job. Thats over. Now we must go uphill and make progress.
I am confident of this, thanks to the great Dutchman I know in Brussels. He is a good friend of mine. Mark Rutte. And he is doing a great job. The Hague Summit will be a success.
More seriously, I want to address two fundamental questions about European defense: Where are we? And what do we need to do?
First - Where are we?
Europe faces 3 challenges: the war continues as long as Putin wants, Russia is becoming stronger and more aggressive, and Americans are withdrawing from Europe. China is the priority. This does not mean American withdrawal from NATO.
Lessons from Ukraine: 80% of targets are hit by drones; tank survival - 6 minutes; millions of drones; two armies with millions of drones - Ukraine and Russia.
Second question - what to do?
- Perfect storm - crisis in European defense: time to act, not complain. To cycle uphill.
- NATO Summit and European Council in June - a good occasion to agree on what to do?
- Good answers were given in the UvdL Aachen statement: two strategic priorities for the EU - an independent Europe and Pax Europaea.
- Ursula von der Leyen: We cannot allow ourselves to be thrown off course by the seismic changes that we are facing.
- If we want Peace in Europe (Pax Europaea), we need to be ready to be independent.
Independence in defense for the European Union means being ready for equal burden sharing with our transatlantic allies in NATO.
What to do? How to build our independence to achieve Pax Europaea?
We must do everything to bring Europe up with all our material and institutional defense capabilities and push Russias capability to wage new aggression down.
We must be ready for the United States to shift more towards the Indo-Pacific and diminish their presence on the European continent. We must rapidly integrate Ukraine with its battle-tested military forces and innovative defense industry into a new European security architecture.
This is an agenda for Pax Europaea and an independent Europe. This agenda is broader than just the material side of our defense preparedness.
Now I will go through the concrete details of this agenda:
- Material preparedness: demand and supply; financial resources; military mobility.
- Replacement of US capabilities: no angry divorce, but rational agreement on progressive division of responsibilities.
- Financial resources: additional 800 billion euros over the next 4 years; SAFE loans (together with Ukraine).
- Military mobility: 4 corridors, 500 hotspots (70 billion euros needed), Military Schengen.
And of course, strong Dutch leadership on Defense and Security. Your sailors protect the Baltic waters. Your pilots protect NATO and EU airspace. Your soldiers serve across Europe. And your country stands with Ukraine since day one.
In a few weeks, you will host the NATO summit here in The Hague. This shows Dutch commitment to our common security.
Conclusions
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke in Aachen about our strategic goals to seek European Independence and Pax Europaea. She made a powerful and simple statement about what unites us in our history and what should unite us in the future.
The past and the future unite us. This unity is now called the European Union. The Netherlands is at the heart of this unity.