European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Speech by Commissioner Kubilius at the EDA Annual Conference Brussels, 28 January 2026 From opportunity to delivery. How to make our defence investment surge a success for our defence readiness. People used to say – 30 years ago – that the European Union was only an economic giant. But since then, the EU has also become a political giant. We faced massive crises: ...
European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Speech by Commissioner Kubilius at the EDA Annual Conference Brussels, 28 January 2026 From opportunity to delivery. How to make our defence investment surge a success for our defence readiness. People used to say – 30 years ago – that the European Union was only an economic giant. But since then, the EU has also become a political giant. We faced massive crises: financial crisis, migration crisis. Brexit. Covid. War. These crises have not destroyed us, they united us and made us stronger. Exactly as Jean Monnet predicted: the European Community will be created during crises. We now face the greatest security crisis of our lifetimes. But I am optimistic. This crisis too will make us stronger. When it comes to defence, Europe is also a giant. But a sleeping giant. Together we are Europe ' s defence community: Member States with all their militaries, High Representative, European Defence Agency, Commission, industry. Together we need to wake up the giant. By uniting our efforts. By being ready to fight – not as a collection of 27 –but to fight as Europe. We live now in a world where might is righta, as many leaders said last week in Davos. Our answer to deal with this dangerous world, was heard very loudly in recent weeks: European independence. European autonomy. More European responsibility for our own defence. And the US National Defence Strategy published last week, said very clearly: Their strategic priority is the Indo-Pacific. The Western Hemisphere. And they expect us, Europeans, to take responsibility for Europe's conventional defence. Because they, the Americans, will diminish their presence on the European continent. And for us, Europeans, it means that we must very rapidly build our independence. Independence in defence: without delays and without excuses. That ' s what Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament also last week. The same was said by the Council President Antonio Costa. By President Macron and Chancellor Merz. To be clear, independence does not mean: alone. Independence means together. Building a European Pillar in NATO. Together in the European Union, together in NATO and with Ukraine. Building a strong economy and defence, together. European responsibility for defence does not mean the EU institutions are in charge of defence. That is the job of the Member States. The Commission's job is to do everything we can to help Member States do that job. With EU added value. EU laws. EU money. EU coordination. EU scale. Like we have done for many years with the European Defence Fund, ASAP and EDIRPA - with great success. And we are now scaling up that success. Last year I said: we need a ‘big bang' in defence. Now we have a big bang in defence investment. With the 150 billion in SAFE loans we proposed for defence last March – the Commission has already endorsed 16 national investment plans and sent them for approval to the Council and we ' re now looking at the remaining 3. And Member States during the NATO Summit pledged to spend 6.8 trillion on their defence. Till 2035. And we have a policy ‘big bang.' You know what the Commission achieved in policy development last year. The White Paper, Defence Readiness Roadmap, Simplification Omnibus, Military Mobility Package, and Communication on Defence Industry Transformation. No need to go into details. Just a few words on two big strategic issues - First, EDIP . One of our biggest policy achievements of the last year. Building on ASAP and EDIRPA logic for massive defence industry ramp up. On 2nd February I will convene the first meeting of the Security of Supply Board. Its task: to support the Commission to implement the first ever EU defence security of supply regime. In the board, Commission and Member States will map and monitor defence supply chains. Will assess how to avoid security-related supply crises. To make sure that all conditions are in place to support fast defence industry ramp up. We will continue to leverage the EU budget for joint procurement, building on the EDIRPA experience. Concretely supporting Member States to aggregate their demand with joint procurement, to their benefit and to the benefit of EU industry. And we will mobilise our budget to address bottlenecks in our defence supply chains. To derisk, and accelerate ramp up. We are currently working with Member States and Ukraine on EDIP priorities. Such as missiles. This is an urgent priority. I will go on a "missile tour". Asking industry: how many missiles can you build? What are the bottlenecks in supply chains? And use this missile mapping to ramp up defence production. We'll organize more implementation dialogues with industry. And we will move forward with EDIP's biggest innovations. European Defence Projects of Common Interests. And the Structure of European Armament Programme. More about that later. Now a few words on the second big strategic issue: SAFE implementation - big success SAFE brought a historic opportunity for European defence industry. But SAFE is first of all - for the needs of customers, for the needs of our defence. Our customers are defence ministers and generals. I strongly support the call by President Macron to industry. Please deliver. Please invest in production potential, in order to avoid delays. Capabilities, not profits, - what matter most now and will matter in the coming years. And I call on all defense ministers: Come to me if you experience major delays. We need to understand what causes them and how to tackle them. And third: Ukraine. Ukraine has now suffered nearly four years of this invasion. EU and Member States continue to support Ukraine's defence capabilities. Ukraine is defending also us. Increasing Russian attacks don't show that peace is very close. Our support to Ukraine is vital to Ukraine and to ourselves. As you know EU agreed on a 90 billion euro loan for Ukraine, including 60 billion euro for defence. I am now working very intensively with my services and the Ukrainians, to get ready for implementation, starting from April. And we count on the European industry also to get ready to respond to the Ukrainian needs. We ' re also engaging with Ukraine on missiles and drones. Soon we will set up the Drone Alliance with Ukraine. So as Commission we have created many opportunities for our defence, and will continue to create them. But 2026 will be the year of delivery for defence readiness. What defines success? First, getting the capabilities we need. But also: a more integrated European defence industry, working and learning from Ukraine, jointly developing our defence, building a strong Europe. Europe able to fight. Spending more money alone does not guarantee success. The famous British economist and historian Adam Tooze recently pointed out: In the last ten years, Europeans spent 3.1 trillion on defence. And the results? Are we ready today to defend and deter Putin? As Tooze says: quantity does not automatically bring quality. I want to warn here today for one big danger: Most new money for defence will be national. So the temptation will be to spend only national. That would be a big mistake. That would only increase fragmentation. And only increase our dependency on third countries, because we shall continue to procure outside of European industries. Staying only national, means staying fragmented – fragmented industry, small contracts, limited production capacities. More money but no production growth would only increase prices of defence products. Increase inefficiency. Increase waiting times for product delivery. Of course, probably it will increase also market value of industry shares. But it will not increase our defence readiness and defence independence. So, what will? We now need the Member States to show leadership to develop European defence. European leadership. To be ready to fight as Europe. Member States set priorities for their defence. But we need Member States now to set not only national priorities, but also European priorities. Member States do a great job in capability coalitions. But some gaps are so big, they can only be filled together. We need to develop pan-European capabilities, not only national ones, assigned to each Member State by NATO capability targets. Pan-European capabilities - like the strategic enablers we now critically depend on America for. Like strategic airlift, air to air refueling, or missile defence. Space intelligence data or surveillance. Command and control capabilities. And we need the united political leadership of Member States in defining these Pan European Defence Projects. Like the Eastern Flank Watch. At the Helsinki summit in December, Member States took important steps forward on this project to defend the eastern border. I invite Member States to take the lead on other Flagship Defence Projects we proposed on drones, space and missile defence. And I invite Member States to initiate their own: for example, to defend the Mediterranean or the Arctic regions. Or to build specific capabilities, like sovereign military cloud. So, my appeal to Member States - lead! And we will support. We have already put the tools in place for you to build pan European projects. In EDIP: The Structure of European Armament Programme (SEAP). And the European Defence Projects of Common Interests. Member States take charge of these projects. And will receive support from the European Union: grants, VAT exemptions, easier procurement rules, possibility to borrow in the markets. To succeed with such important projects it's important to take swift coordinating decisions on the highest political level. That is why I publicly raised the issue: maybe we really need to establish a European Security Council, which was originally proposed by Macron and Merkel back in 2017-2018. To coordinate and to lead us in this major transformation of European defence. In defence success is defined by what doesn't happen: Putin not testing us, Russia not attacking us. We have no right to fail. We will succeed only if we openly recognize our most disturbing weaknesses and if we are ready to overcome them. Fragmentation and lack of unity is our most painful weakness in European defence. The common market is our strength in the global economy. Common defence will be our strength in a world of power. In a world of giants, we too must become giants. A gentle giant: that promotes international law and cooperation. But a strong giant all the same. So in the coming year let ' s work together, and make Europe a giant for our defence, united, independent and strong. Ready to fight as Europe. SPEECH/26/249
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