Implementation of the common security and defence policy – annual report 2023

MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION

Implementation of the common security and defence policy – annual report 2023

(2023/2119(INI))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the NATO 2023 Vilnius Summit Communiqué,

– having regard to the Civilian CSDP Compact – Towards more effective civilian missions, approved by the Council on 22 May 2023,

– having regard to the opinion of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs,

– having regard to the Strategic Compass for Security and Defence – For a European Union that protects its citizens, values and interests and contributes to international peace and security, which was approved by the Council on 21 March 2022 and endorsed by the European Council on 25 March 2022,

– having regard to its resolution of 19 April 2023 on the EU Rapid Deployment Capacity, EU Battlegroups and Article 44 TEU: the way forward,

– having regard to the Versailles Declaration adopted at the informal meeting of heads of state and government on 11 March 2022,

– having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU),

– having regard to Title V of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), in particular Chapter Two, Section Two thereof on provisions on the common security and defence policy (CSDP),

– having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/697 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2021 establishing the European Defence Fund (EDF) and repealing Regulation (EU) 2018/1092,

– having regard to Council Decision (CFSP) 2017/2315 of 11 December 2017 establishing permanent structured cooperation (PESCO) and determining the list of participating Member States,

– having regard to the Council conclusions of 22 January 2018 on the integrated approach to external conflicts and crises and 24 January 2022 on the European security situation,

– having regard to Council Decision (CFSP) 2021/509 of 22 March 2021 establishing a European Peace Facility (EPF), and repealing Decision (CFSP) 2015/528,

– having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (A9-0000/2023),

A. whereas Ukraine needs to be provided with the necessary military capabilities for as long as it takes to end Russia’s illegal war of aggression and to restore its sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders;

B. whereas the Strategic Compass aims to equip the EU with the necessary strategic guidance, realistic and operational tools to move towards a coherent and credible defence policy, and to make it an effective and capable security provider and an assertive global actor;

Providing Ukraine with the defence capabilities it needs

1. Stands united with Ukraine and resolutely condemns Russia’s illegal war of aggression; deplores the global consequences of Russia’s illegal war of aggression which is hitting countries and vulnerable societies around the world through increased energy prices and food shortages and which also grossly violates international law and the principles of the UN Charter and undermines European and global security and stability;

2. Confirms the EU will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes to end Russia’s war of aggression and restore Ukraine’s territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders, enabling it to effectively exercise its sovereignty, protect its civilians and fulfil their wish for EU membership;

3. Stresses the importance of the European Peace Facility (EPF) which has supported the Ukrainian armed forces by financing and delivering military equipment and training, while providing coordination for all stakeholders through the Clearing House Mechanism hosted by the EU Military Staff; calls for the financial sustainability and durability of the EPF to be ensured in order to provide Ukraine and other EU partners around the world with the support they request;

4. Welcomes the setting up of the Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine and its role in enhancing the military effectiveness of Ukraine’s armed forces so they can defend their territorial integrity within Ukraine’s internationally recognised borders and allow the country to effectively exercise its sovereignty and protection of civilians;

5. Commends the flexibility and adaptability of the European Union Advisory Mission in Ukraine in implementing its revised mandate in difficult conditions; calls on the EU to ensure it can operate with the adequate financial, logistical and human means to meet Ukraine’s needs;

6. Underlines the EU’s concrete support to Ukraine through the ‘three ammunition tracks’; urges faster delivery of ammunition from Member States’ existing stocks through the EPF; calls for the joint procurement of ammunition for Ukraine to be sped up and stresses the need to ramp up the third track and ensure the effective implementation of the Act in Support of Ammunition Production; further stresses that concrete steps should be taken towards Ukraine’s integration in EU defence policies and programmes during the EU membership process, building on the existing agreement with the European Defence Agency (EDA) and as a beneficiary of the European defence industry reinforcement through common procurement act (EDIRPA); calls on the European External Action Service to come forward with a plan for a sustainable and long-term package of security commitments for Ukraine;

7. Underlines the outcome of the Vilnius Summit that clearly confirms Ukraine’s future is in the alliance; welcomes the Summit’s support package for Ukraine and the establishment of the NATO-Ukraine Council that will prepare Ukraine for NATO membership;

8. Underlines that the EU and NATO’s commitments to Ukraine are part of a wider internationally coordinated package of security guarantees for Ukraine, including the G7’s launch of a multilateral framework for the negotiation of bilateral security commitments and arrangements for Ukraine;

Strengthening European defence in response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine

9. Underlines the commitment of the EU’s heads of state and government, made in the Versailles Declaration, to provide all the necessary support needed by Ukraine and to take greater responsibility for European security by bolstering European defence capabilities; calls on the EU and its Member States to deliver on this commitment by accelerating the full implementation of the Strategic Compass in order to make the European Union a stronger and more capable security provider;

The Strategic Compass: ‘ACT’

10. Reminds the Member States of their commitment to strengthening the military planning and conduct capacity and achieving full operational capability, including through the provision of adequate premises, staff, and reorganisation of the EU Military Staff;

11. Reiterates its full support for the rapid deployment capacity (RDC) with at least 5 000 troops available for rescue and evacuation tasks, initial entry and stabilisation operations or temporary reinforcement of missions; calls on the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR) to set out the practical modalities for implementing Article 44 TEU, in order to allow a group of willing and able Member States to plan and conduct a mission or operation within the EU framework and, thereby, ensure the swift activation of the RDC;

12. Calls on the VP/HR and Member States to deliver more robust, flexible and modular CSDP missions and operations, that can adapt to the changing security context and that build on the synergies and complementarities of civilian and military dimensions of CSDP; welcomes the adoption of the new Civilian CSDP Compact and the commitment to increase the effectiveness, flexibility and responsiveness of civilian missions, including through speeding up decision making, strengthening operational planning, improving selection and recruitment of personnel, emphasising greater gender equality and improving responsiveness tools;

13. Emphasises the importance of adequate, flexible and sustainable funding for all security and defence programs and initiatives, including the CFSP budget and the EPF; calls for a substantive increase of funding for the CFSP budget, including a dedicated CFSP budget line establishing a civilian support facility to provide partner countries with equipment and services to enhance their civilian capabilities; calls on the Member States to increase the resources allocated to security and defence in the next multiannual financial framework; further calls on Member States to amend the EPF financing process to ensure adequate and sustainable support for partners, allies and CSDP operations;

The Strategic Compass: ‘INVEST’

14. Welcomes the increased budgets and investment in defence by EU Member States and institutions, and calls for their impact to be maximised in order to deliver the needed capabilities to Europe’s armed forces through increased joint procurement and joint investment in defence research and development;

15. Recalls that the EU and Member States now have a comprehensive set of tools to enhance a strategic approach to capability development, namely under the guidance of the Joint Defence Procurement Task Force and using the EDA’s Coordinated Annual Review on Defence, the Capability Development Plan and the defence investment gap analysis; Calls on the Commission and the VP/HR to present an update of the defence investment gap analysis, and to identify the capabilities and programmes that will be developed with EU support by the end of the decade; recalls the need for the development of a European capabilities and armaments policy to that end;

16. Considers that the European Defence Fund, regrettably still underfinanced, shows the added-value of EU-level action in European defence and recommends the extension of Commission proposals in all defence-related fields of EU policy in coordination with Member States and the VP/HR;

17. Stresses that EDIRPA can only be a first step towards improving the European technological and industrial base’s capacities to supply Member States with the products and quantities needed and should be complemented with further initiatives, including the envisaged long-term European Defence Investment Program (EDIP) for which adequate funding needs to be ensured;

18. Calls on Member States to increase their levels of defence spending to adjust to the current geopolitical situation, and address the significant threats towards the Union’s security; calls on the EU NATO Member States to increase their military budgets to at least 2 % of GDP considering the impact of historic under-investment and spiralling inflation on defence budgets;

The Strategic Compass: ‘ANTICIPATE and SECURE’

19. Highlights that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is part of a wider strategy to undermine the rules-based international order; calls for the EU to enhance its capacities for responding to hybrid warfare, including the detection and response to Russia, and other state and non-state actors carrying out foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) campaigns which challenge our interests and values, including by spreading false-narratives about the EU or by targeting CSDP missions and operations in strategic areas;

20. Highlights that China has established a ‘no-limits friendship’ with Russia, that includes significant transfer of technology and military capabilities, and poses an increasing number of security challenges to the EU, especially in the fields of cyber and FIMI; stresses the need for the EU to strengthen the security and integrity of its critical infrastructures, supply chains and technology base, including through close monitoring of their ownership and control by actors linked to the Chinese government;

21. Calls for supplementary progress on further improving the EU Hybrid Toolbox, specifically addressing activities involving cyber-attacks and FIMI, and the revision of the implementing guidelines of the EU’s cyber diplomacy toolbox; welcomes the commitment set out in the new Civilian Compact to provide the necessary capabilities to enable civilian CSDP missions to respond to hybrid attacks, including FIMI and cyber, by 2024; reiterates the need for ensuring the existence of the expertise and capacity for secure information and communications technologies for all CSDP missions and operations to communicate securely in theatre and with all EU institutions;

22. Welcomes the deployment of the EU CSDP Partnership Mission in the Republic of Moldova, the first ever CSDP civilian mission dedicated to strengthening the resilience of Moldova’s security sector in crisis management and countering hybrid threats; Underlines the importance of this innovative CSDP Mission and calls on the Member States to provide the expertise and capabilities necessary for the mission to support Moldova in the face of Russia’s use of hybrid warfare;

23. Welcomes the joint communication on the EU cyber defence policy and calls on Member States to implement the ambitious but realistic set of actions proposed by the Commission, including the proposal for a Cyber Solidarity Act to enhance their ability to detect and respond to cybersecurity threats and incidents in the EU;

24. Recalls the need for enhanced intelligence sharing and information exchange among Member States and EU institutions, including Parliament, to improve situational awareness, counter security threats and better inform policy making; calls on the VP/HR and the Member States to reinforce the Single Intelligence Analysis Capacity (SIAC);

The Strategic Compass: ‘PARTNER’

25. Emphasises that the EU must further develop its own capabilities in all domains to protect the sovereignty of all Member States while enhancing its security cooperation with partners across the globe;

26. Underlines the importance of the partnership dimension of the Strategic Compass in reinforcing cooperation between the EU and its allies and partners around the world in order to counter foreign strategies aimed at undermining the EU and destabilising the rules-based international order; welcomes the long-awaited third Joint Declaration on EU-NATO Cooperation which confirmed that the EU and NATO are essential partners who share common values and strategic interests, and who work in complementarity to ensure Euro-Atlantic and global security and stability; calls in particular for synergies and coherence between NATO’s Strategic Concept and the EU’s Strategic Compass, particularly in the areas of countering Russian aggression, hybrid and cyber warfare, and providing support to partners;

27. Underlines the importance of developing security and defence dialogues with partners around the world, in particular in the Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership but also with key partners in strategic maritime areas such as those stretching from the Red Sea and Horn of Africa to the Indo-Pacific;

The role of the European Parliament

28. Calls for the reinforcement of parliamentary democracy and improved scrutiny of non-EU partner countries through parliamentary dialogues on security and defence issues and by building parliamentary resilience against hybrid threats, including cyber and FIMI;

29. Notes that the increase in spending on defence policies and programmes at an EU level and among the Member States requires full parliamentary scrutiny and accountability; underlines the existing calls for the establishment of a fully-fledged European Parliament Committee on Security and Defence, in recognition of the emerging defence acquis in the framework of the EU with scrutiny, legislation and budgetary responsibilities;

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30. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the European Council, the Council, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the President of the Commission and competent Commissioners, the UN Secretary-General, the NATO Secretary-General, the President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the EU security and defence agencies and governments and parliaments of the Member States.