European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Speecha by Commissioner Kubilius at the New Economy Forum Madrid, 20 February 2026 Thank you, Minister, for your kind words today. For the great meeting yesterday and especially for our great cooperation on defence. It's a very big pleasure to be back in Spain and in Madrid. Your Prime Minister said in Munich: “We Spaniards are far away from Russia, but we know qu...
European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Speecha by Commissioner Kubilius at the New Economy Forum Madrid, 20 February 2026 Thank you, Minister, for your kind words today. For the great meeting yesterday and especially for our great cooperation on defence. It's a very big pleasure to be back in Spain and in Madrid. Your Prime Minister said in Munich: “We Spaniards are far away from Russia, but we know quite well that Putin is a real threat” And that is good to hear, especially if you are, like me,from Lithuania, from the Baltic region. I come to Spain because there is no European defence readiness without Spain. Spain has an important defence and space industry that makes impressive products and achieves great things. Spain is a European space leader. You made a decisive contribution recently to Govsatcom. Thanks to you, all member states can now enjoy sovereign satellite communication. And Spain has shown strong support to Ukraine all during the war. And I am happy about the strong military commitment of the Spanish ministry of defence and armed forces to support Ukraine with priority defensive equipment, including air defence. Now we have new possibilities to increase our supportand to make it more stable and predictable. Because from April, the Commission and Ukraine will start to implement the new big, 60 billion euros Ukraine Support Loan for the defence of Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities identified their clear strategic priorities: drones, missiles, 155 mm extended range ammunition. The biggest challenge - missiles. Two days ago, back in Brussels, I had a conversation with all the major European producers of missiles. Soon I will go on a “Missile Tour”, visiting missile producers together with the national defence ministers, to discuss implementation of a what I would call a special programme. We want governments to urgently sell to Ukraine the needed missiles from their stockpiles, and industries to be ready to quickly produce the quantities, needed to replenish stockpiles. I hope that Spain again will be an active partner in thisprogramme to assist Ukraine. Defence is a clear strategic priority for all of us, both in Member States, in Brussels, here in Spain There are plenty of recent developments, from finances and industries to geopolitics and transatlantic relations. I will not try to cover everything in my introduction. We will have the Q&A for that. But I want to speak with you a little bit broader, openlyabout one problem, which we can only solve together: Commission, government and industry. Let me shortly explain. The European Union provides massive support for industry. In the last year, Europe has created massive possibilities for our defence: 150 billion euro in SAFE loans, the 60 billion euro defence loan for Ukraine, 131 billion in the plans for the Next MFF for defence and space and Member States have committed to spend trillions for defence by 2035, if they implement what they pledged to NATO. We have the powerful new industrial policy instrument EDIP, our European Defence Industry Programme, with tested instruments like ASAP and EDIRPA and new important ones, like EDPCI, SEAP, the security of supply regime or Ukraine Support instrument. And now we are at a watershed moment. Between the industrial policy instruments and financial possibilities which we have created and the production ramp up we need to achieve now. I am now talking a lot to Member States and ministers, and what they are saying is making me worried They say: Industry is raising prices. And delaying delivery dates. Because industries are not ramping up their production volumes at the same speed as the finances for defence are increasing. And that is not the goal of our European support and our spending. Companies operate on commercial principles. We expect nothing else. But for us as Commission: Our own policy is production. Because this is the only way, how capabilities can be built. Our purpose is peace. The profit we seek - is to prevent a war. The dividend for Europe is peace. Or, to use words that were written in Spain over 400 years ago by Miguel de Cervantes, who said: “Arms have as their purpose and end peace, which is the greatest good that men can desire in this life”. Defence industry is not an ordinary industry but a resource for our defence. Our ability as Europe to deter aggression, depends on the ability of our industry to meet huge demand, andinnovate at rapid pace. Overpriced defence products that arrive years too late will not deter Putin. That will invite Putin. And it will undermine also, public support for defence investment. And Ukraine needs equipment now. And for Ukraine delays are deadly delays: Territory lost, lives lost, freedom lost. So what Europe needs is for industry to rapidly scale up production lines and production capacity. So that they can produce at speed and scale. To meet the defence needs of Member States and NATO we need industrial surge. The Ukrainians managed to increase defence production by 50 times since the beginning of the war. That should be an inspiration for all of us. Of course, this is easier said than done. I speak a lot with industry partners. I hear: “Commissioner, we want that too!” “We want to produce and produce in bulk. We want nothing more.” They are not worried about profits. Volume goes up. Unit prices go down. It's simple economics. But they are worried about risk. To produce in volume industry first needs big orders, long term orders from Member States. And long term industrial security. Because the risks to industry are colossal. I said already: Defence industry is no ordinary industry. To produce big you first need to invest big. Take big risks before there are any returns. Whole new factories need to be built. With state of the art machines. Highly qualified workers need to be paid. And industry tells me: Member States are not giving the security of long term stable demand, that industry needs. So, we have a conundrum, that is a major threat to our defence readiness. And we are all in this together. Commission, Member States and Industry. I have decided to speak about this openly because we won't solve this problem by just looking at each other, waiting for someone to make the first move, We all need to work together, and create an ecosystem for long term contracts to assure industry. And we can do it. I will talk with the governments. As I said, now we need an industrial surge. For the demands of Ukraine, and for our own defence capabilities. But also we need to establish a long term European policy, which would create a long term stable demand for defence products. For example, we need a policy, which would create an obligation for Member States to secure preservation of stocks of ammunition and other weaponry as a matter of national security; and as a matter of preparedness Also we need to realize provisions of EDIP on the possibility of Member States to establish, manage and maintain defence industrial readiness pools, which the Commission can support; And we need to remember that EDIP establishes the possibility to finance the building-up and making available of reserved surge manufacturing capacities of defence products - so called ever warm facilities. Those and similar instruments will help us to avoid or diminish the possibilities of a supply crisis, will create long term stable demand, and will create for industry much more secure long term visibility of demand. It will bring that additional industrial security, which you need in order now to go for an industrial surge. This direction will be my priority for the nearest future. And in the discussion I would like very much to hear your ideas, about what else we can do. And I have a final, sobering thought. History shows, most recently in Ukraine, that when wars come, contracts and production come. So what are we waiting for? If we fail now, only to act when it's too late, - the cost will be immense. And it won't be measured in money. That would be an immense tragedy for Europe. So let's together act now, with increased defence finances, clear long term demand, and industrial surge now. To prevent war and preserve peace. SPEECH/26/446
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