In a historically charged juncture, with the war in Ukraine turning into a steady threat to international security, or Summit of the 27 European leaders set an ambitious five -year plan to strengthen its defense and strategic autonomy European Union (EU).
The Council reiterated, at the Summit of June 25, 2025, the need for the EU to become “more dominant, more responsible for its own defense and better equipped to deal with autonomy and coordination current and future threats”.
In order to achieve the goal of decisively strengthening Europe’s preparedness in the field of defense within the next five years, the European Council has examined progress in implementing its previous conclusions.
The European Council recalls that a stronger and more capable European Union in the field of security and defense will contribute positively to global and transatlantic security and is complementary to NATO, which remains, for the Member States involved in the foundation of their collective defense.
The European Council emphasizes the need to continue the substantial increase in spending on Europe’s defense and security, as well as that there is better common investment, taking into account the commitment made to the NATO summit in June 2025 by NATO Member States. The European Council calls on Member States to coordinate the implementation of the relevant commitments. Recalling its conclusions on March 20, 2025 on the continuation of the work on the relevant financial options, the European Council has examined the progress made.
In this context, the European Council welcomes the approval of the Regulation on the establishment of the SAFE average security (SAFE), as well as the forthcoming activation of national escape rhetoric on the basis of the Stability and Development Pact. The European Council calls on co -coominitors to consider rapidly, in order to quickly agree, the proposal to provide incentives to defense investment in the EU budget and to promote the proposal to address security and defense challenges in the context of the interim revision of cohesion policy. The importance of mobilizing private funding for the defense industry is also recalled. The European Council welcomes the efforts of the European Investment Bank in this direction and calls on it to continue efforts to adapt its practices to lend loans to the defense industry, in particular by re -examining the list of excluding activities and increasing funding and financial resources.
Taking into account the urgent character of the European technological and industrial base in the field of defense throughout the Union, in order to be able to produce and supply equipment to the required quantities and with the accelerated rate required, the European Council reiterates the importance of concentration, Unification of the European Defense Market at the Union level.
Working on capabilities in the priority areas specified at EU level must be accelerated, in full consistency with NATO. The European Council encourages the rapid development and implementation of collaborative projects in this sector, fully utilizing SAFE. In particular, it welcomes work to identify specific opportunities and gather demand within the European Defense Service. It emphasizes the need for Member States to proceed immediately, including the implementation of the most mature short -term projects and the launch of long -term initiatives, with the support of the defense, the High Representative and the Commission. In this context, special emphasis should be placed on strategic amplifiers and defense innovation in order to fully exploit the potential of new technologies.
The European Council encourages the continuation of labor for the possibility of the European Defense Industry, including SMEs and Medium Capital Companies, to increase production. In particular, following the political agreement reached by the Council on the proposal for the European Defense Industry Program (EDIP), the European Council calls on co -co -factorists to complete the negotiations immediately. It also encourages them to quickly proceed to examine the proposals of the so -called “omnibus for defense readiness”.
The European Council emphasizes that the defense of all land, air and marine borders of the EU contributes to the overall security of Europe, in particular with regard to the eastern border of the Union, taking into account threats from Russia and Belarus.
In addition, taking into account the threats to the rest of the EU border, the European Council emphasizes the importance of their defense.
The European Council calls on the Commission and the High Representative to present further proposals to strengthen military mobility in order to enable efficient transfer of defense equipment and staff throughout the Union.
The European Council underlines the importance of cooperation with partners that have a similar perception that share our goals in foreign policy and security policy. In this context, it welcomes EU’s recent corporate relations on security and defense with the United Kingdom and Canada.
The European Council will consider progress at its next session in October 2025 and discuss the next steps to fulfill the goal of strengthening defense readiness. Invites the Commission and the High Representative to present a roadmap for this purpose.
The above does not affect the particular nature of the security policy and defense of some Member States and take into account the interests of the security and defense of all Member States, in accordance with the circumstances.