“D“I am pleased to announce that the United Kingdom will join the Permanent Structured Security and Defense Cooperation (PESCO, in its original acronym) on plans related to military mobility,” said the European Union’s (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, at a press conference to present the plan for military mobility in Europe.
Later, when asked about the possible entry of Turkey, which has requested to participate in joint military projects with the EU, Josef Borrell explained that Ankara’s request “goes forward”.
Since the UK left the EU, European diplomacy has sought to integrate Britons into joint structures for defence, research and universities.
On several occasions, Borrell called for “structured, permanent and organized” cooperation, stressing that it was a “fundamental part of international security”, but lamented the lack of coherence in achieving it.
The European Union on Thursday presented a plan to adapt roads, railways and other infrastructure to accommodate the movement of troops and military assets. Borders, the situation in Ukraine, etc.
Europe has the free movement of goods, services, people and capital, but “we don’t have the free movement of soldiers,” European Commission (EC) executive vice-president Margrethe Vestager highlighted. “Awareness”.
The new plan proposed by Brussels for 2022-2026 follows the initial one on military mobilization presented in 2018.
To this end, it recommends strengthening the EU’s capacity to support Member States and their partners in the transport of troops and their equipment, to better connect and protect infrastructure, to streamline regulatory issues, to strengthen cooperation with NATO, and to improve connectivity and dialogue. partners.
A central part of the proposal is identifying potential infrastructure gaps, prioritizing improvements, and coordinating fuel supply chain requirements to support large-scale and short-term movements of military forces.
It also aims to digitize administrative processes related to customs logistics and military mobility systems and improve measures to protect transport infrastructure from cyber-attacks and other hybrid threats.
Another objective is to strengthen cooperation with NATO, as well as promote connectivity and dialogue with other strategic EU partners such as the United States, Canada and Norway, regional partners and candidate countries for EU accession such as Ukraine, Moldova and the EU. Western Balkans.
To fund these initiatives, the EC proposes to use resources from the “Connect Europe” program (which will fund dual-use civil and military transport infrastructure projects) and the European Defense Fund (which will support the development of operable digital and logistics systems).
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