Thank you, Kaja, for these words.
On this occasion, I would like to emphasize the role of the Commission President.
President von der Leyen has made defense a priority from the beginning of this mandate.
Yesterday, she reiterated in Copenhagen the essence of what all of us must do:
“If Europe wants to avoid war, Europe must get ready for war”.
As you remember, the intelligence services of Germany and Denmark recently publicly announced that the Kremlin is preparing to test NATO Article 5 before 2030.
That is why we need a “roadmap for “Readiness 2030”:
Because we need to act big.
Those are also the words of President von der Leyen, in Copenhagen yesterday, when she outlined the elements of the White Paper.
There are four key priorities in the White Paper or as we can call it, the “roadmap to “Readiness 2030”:
In short, this is what the White Paper is about.
But for me, this White Paper is also the end of one hundred days of reflection.
Very intensive days of reflection.
With very valuable input from the majority of Member States, with a large number of seminars and conferences, individual meetings with Prime Ministers, Ministers, parliamentarians, defense and space industry leaders, experts, and associations.
This process of preparation of the White Paper, and also the geopolitical developments around us, brought us to a clear convergence of our views on what we need to do with our defense capabilities in Europe.
That is how this Roadmap to 2030 was born.
Which is just a beginning.
Beginning of the road, and not an easy one.
Today is not only the end of an initial period of reflection, it is also the start of joint action.
To mobilize Europes industrial and economic might.
To deter aggression and prevent war.
That is why from now on our priority is: Implementation, implementation, implementation.
Putin will not be deterred if we read the White Paper to him.
He will be deterred if we turn the White Paper into action and use it to build very real drones, tanks, artillery for our defense.
That is our ambition:
To deter Putin with clear evidence that we are not only stronger in our economy, but also that we are stronger with our democratic political will and our defense capabilities.
That is why implementation is so crucial.
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Its absolutely clear that to begin implementing “Readiness 2030”, we need a surge in defense spending.
The SAFE proposal the college adopted today is crucial for building up our defense industry and making sure Member States have the weapons they need.
Loans are for joint procurement.
Member States must join forces with other Member States, EU, EEA countries, and Ukraine.
This proposal will also fully integrate Ukraine.
Both as a supplier and a participant of procurement.
And it will create totally new possibilities for Member States to surge their support to Ukraine.
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And with the Communication on defense expenditure within the Growth and Stability Pact, which we adopted today, we propose greater flexibility on the national escape clause for defense spending.
1.5% of GDP for defense will be excluded from deficit calculation.
As you know, the grand total of additional defense spending comes to potentially 800 billion euros.
The next steps of implementation will come during the next weeks.
We shall stay being ambitious, since incrementalism is not acceptable anymore.
And in conclusion –
We need to remember two basic principles:
First, - defense is a collective good.
The defense readiness of individual Member States is an expression of the basic European value of solidarity.
Our security depends on our ability to implement collective defense.
Collective defense can only be effective if all Member States invest in an appropriate development of their national defense capabilities.
Without this kind of investment, defense of other countries is weakened.
And second, - 450 million EU citizens should not have to depend on 340 million Americans to defend ourselves against 140 million Russians who cant defeat 38 million Ukrainians.
We really can do better.
Its time for us to take responsibility for the defense of Europe