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European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Speech by Commissioner Kubilius at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly session Vilnius, 31 May 2026 Your Excellency President of Lithuania, Mr President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Mister Speaker of Seimas, Madam Prime Minister of Lithuania, Dear friends, Welcome to Seimas, my Parliament, I was a parliamentarian here for 27 years. In these very seats. And was ...
European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Speech by Commissioner Kubilius at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly session Vilnius, 31 May 2026 Your Excellency President of Lithuania, Mr President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Mister Speaker of Seimas, Madam Prime Minister of Lithuania, Dear friends, Welcome to Seimas, my Parliament, I was a parliamentarian here for 27 years. In these very seats. And was facing tough parliamentary control of this House when twice I was a Prime Minister of this country. So you can understand why it is a great pleasure for me to speak with fellow parliamentarians. And welcome to Lithuania, my home country. And welcome to the Eastern Flank region: from the Baltic to the Black Sea. The eastern border of the European Union, the eastern border of NATO. ******* Dear friends, Your visit comes at exactly the right time. A time of increasing threats, disinformation, provocation against this country and the whole Eastern Flank. My dear Romanian friends here today: My complete and heartfelt solidarity! And I applaud NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte's promise “to defend every inch of NATO territory”. **** It's clear what explains Putin's erratic attacks. Ukraine is starting to prevail. The more Ukraine prevails, the more nervous Putin gets. And desperate. The goal of Putin: to frighten people in this region and Europe - maybe we shall stop supporting Ukraine. Our answer: Not back down – but double down! Further increase defence spending and production. Support the Eastern Flank and support for Ukraine so Ukraine will prevail. ****** Dear colleagues, The NATO Parliamentary Assembly meeting at this time here in Vilnius, means a lot to the people of this country and this region. The same as the Commission President's visit last week. It shows: NATO has our back. And the European Union also has our back. NATO and the European Union – two organisations united by a single purpose: To keep Europe free, safe and at peace. The division of labour is clear. NATO brings military might. And the European Union brings financial and industrial might. ******** Today we have three topics on the future of our defence to discuss. And the NATO Parliamentary Assembly is the best place to do that: European security architecture; European defence industry and the issue of Ukraine. ***** First, I call on you to take the lead on the debate on the future of European defence architecture. Our American allies are asking us, Europeans, to take primary responsibility for our own collective conventional defence here in Europe. Inside NATO, but moving much more to European collective defence of Europe. Member States are in charge of defence. So Europe needs national Parliaments also to answer - how do we build a post cold war NATO 3.0? How we are going to make the European Pillar of NATO stronger? In order to make our transatlantic NATO stronger. Not only materially – with European strategic enablers, but also with us all in Europe ready to fight as Europe, not only as combination of 27? Is the idea of European Defence Union a proper answer for us in Europe, not only in the EU, to become much more united in defence? You are the right people, to answer these questions. ******* Second question, on European defence industry - Russia still outproduces the EU. Heavily outproduces. It's dangerous. It creates temptation for Putin. European national Parliaments need to ask the governments - why are industries not scaling up, despite the fact that money is increasing? Ukraine increased defence production by 50 times since 2022, up to 50 billion euro. In Ukraine they have sharp competition, market rules, and dynamic innovations in defence industry. We on our side have no single defence market in Europe, no competition, lack of innovations, and lack of industrial ramp-up. The EU governments protect their national industries, procure up to 70-80% what their defence primes are producing, and 80% of defence procurement procedure is a direct award without public tender, using the TFEU Article 346 exemption. It means - no Single Defence Market in the EU, no space for competition, for SME's or start-ups. Traditional defence primes are influencing governmental demand, which means that they also have a strong influence on national military doctrines. That is why we need to understand, also in the national Parliaments - the fight for single defence market in EU is also the fight for the possibility to have modern defence doctrines on a national level. And third question - on Ukraine. First of all - can we increase our support in order for Ukraine to prevail even more. And in such a way to bring Putin to negotiate a just peace? That will cost more than we are giving now, but not doing that in the end will cost us much more. And second - Ukraine has the best military force in Europe and in the world. Read Marco Rubio's or Alex Stubb's or many other recent comments. It would be difficult to understand if we in Europe would not take it as our vital interest to integrate the best European, or even global, military force of Ukraine into our European defence architecture. While NATO membership for Ukraine is still not agreed, while EU Membership will take, perhaps, a longer period of time, the National Parliaments should push for Ukraine's membership of the European Defence Union. With a European Security Council in the leadership of such a Union. And with Ukraine in such a Security Council. ******* In closing let me say: NATO is the biggest and most successful military alliance in the world. The EU is the biggest and most successful single market. Together we can outproduce Russia and deter Russia And prevent war on the continent of Europe. No goal is more important than that! Thanks a lot! SPEECH/26/1208
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