European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Keynote speech by Commissioner Kubilius at the European Business Angel Network Congress Vilnius, 1 June 2026 Good morning, Welcome, everyone to my home country, Lithuania, and my home town, Vilnius. Happy to speak at a conference of business angels. War and angels - does not sound very close. Angels are more for peace, but we know - if you want peace, prepare for ...
European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Keynote speech by Commissioner Kubilius at the European Business Angel Network Congress Vilnius, 1 June 2026 Good morning, Welcome, everyone to my home country, Lithuania, and my home town, Vilnius. Happy to speak at a conference of business angels. War and angels - does not sound very close. Angels are more for peace, but we know - if you want peace, prepare for war. That is what ancient Romans were teaching. So, all of us - we are for peace. And for what peace brings: prosperity, growth, possibility for a better life for our kids. That demands permanent dynamism and permanent hunger for success. And not to fear risk, which sometimes makes us lucky. Love for risk is what unites business angels and start-ups. And what eurocrats do not love. I will try to explain why we, eurocrats, should be lucky today, at this festival of risk. I hope this will also be a lucky day for all you startups looking for investment. Especially in defence and space. And a lucky day for all you investors here today. The business angels. Who are looking to put their money in the next big thing. And that next big thing is defence – and space. You have come to the right place. Because the EBAN congress is the number one meeting place for investors and industry in Europe. A crossroads where money and talent meet. And this is the right place because the Baltics are a hotbed for defence innovation. Because we need defence innovation to be ready to defend ourselves. And the whole of Europe. As Ukraine is doing. ***** First of all: some thoughts on defence innovation in the European Union right now. As you know, “Defence Readiness 2030” is a strategic priority for the European Union. EU Member States pledged to spend for defence 3.5% of GDP, what till 2035 will bring up to 6.8 trillion euro. In the next MFF we proposed 130 billion euro for defence and space. 5 times more than today. Not wasting time till 2035, the EU started to heavily invest in defence already now – 150 billion in SAFE loans during one year. 60 billion in Ukraine support loan. So money is rolling. But it's time to answer ourselves the strategic question: what we shall have in terms of defence production with this defence financial “big bang”? Russia is still very heavily outproducing us. It's dangerous. It creates temptation for Putin. We need to ask ourselves the question - why are our industries not scaling up? My conclusion: because we are still preparing for yesterday's war. Ukraine is fighting the war of today and of tomorrow, we are still not ready for that. So, then the second question - why are we still preparing for the wars of yesterday? My answer is very simple - because we have no Defence Single Market. And that is why there is no space for defence start-ups, SME's, genuine competition and innovation. And no pressure to change war doctrines. And why is that? Why do we still not have a Single Defence Market? My answer: because national governments love to protect their established and traditional defence primes. But what we need now are start ups – their ability to change the supply and to change the demand. To change also war doctrines - from yesterday's into tomorrow's doctrines We need to look at the lessons from Ukraine. Ukraine increased defence production by 50 times since 2022, up to 50 billion euro. Up to the level of German defence production. Or the level of France. I will not surprise you by saying, that the Ukrainian army at the moment is the best in Europe and, perhaps, in the world. That was said recently by Marco Rubio, by Alex Stubb and many others. If we want our armies in Europe to be as good as the Ukrainian army, we need to answer the question: why is the Ukrainian army the best? My answer: not only because they have the bravest soldiers and smartest commanders, but also because their defence industry is the best and most innovative. Why is the Ukrainian defence industry the most innovative? I got the answer last year, when I spoke with prominent Ukrainian leaders of politics and industry, who created the “drone army” in 2023. They made a clear comment: “If we would have listened to the Ukrainian generals from the very beginning of the full scale invasion, we would not have been able to create the drone army”. There was no military demand for drones and for innovative defence at the very beginning of the war. Only after some time, innovative defence supply managed to transform military demand in Ukraine. Innovative supply of the “Brave 1” cluster of start-ups and drone producers, influenced and finally defined the demand, formulated by the Ukrainian military. That is how modern war doctrine evolved in Ukraine. Now the demand for innovations from military and political defence leadership of Ukraine leads the transformation in supply. And that is the formula of Ukraine's success in defence. And in defence industry. And today in Ukraine they have sharp competition, clear market rules, and dynamic innovations in defence industry. Why are we learning the lessons from Ukraine so slowly? In Europe demand for defence production is still very heavily influenced and defined by our big, traditional primes. Who produce traditional, heavy, sometimes technologically very advanced, “haute couture” production, expensive and impossible to ramp-up. In Europe, up to 80% of defence primes production is procured by their national governments and national militaries, up to 80% is procured through direct awards (using the “security” exemption of TFEU Art.346) without public competitive tender. That clearly shows, there is no single defence market in Europe. There are 27 small markets, no possibilities for European-wide competition. And in consequence - no space for start-ups and SME's to mushroom. No space for innovations. And as outcome - lack of industrial ramp-up. Traditional defence primes are influencing governmental demand, which means that they also have a strong influence on national military doctrines. You don't need to read the famous Mario Draghi or Enrico Letta reports to understand, that without a Single Defence Market and competitive procurement we shall never have a proper space for start-ups and SME's in defence to grow-, to innovate and to transform the supply, and at the end to transform the war doctrines of our countries. So, for European business angels and start-ups and innovators, there is a broader agenda in Europe than just to learn how not to be afraid of risk. There is a strategic need to fight for a Defence Single Market, to fight for a proper space for startups and scale-ups to change supply, which will change demand and influence war doctrines. Without space for startups and SME's in Europe, there will be no change in military doctrines. There will not be enough space for risk and for Business Angels. At the end of June we, the European Commission, will present a special Communication on Development of Single Market in Europe. Let's join forces to make Single defence market in Europe a new reality ******* In the meantime, we need to learn from Ukraine. We want you to learn from Ukraine, who are the best defence innovators in Europe right now. So we set up the Bravetech EU initiative with Ukraine. Make the most of this initiative! Sign up for the next call of the Bravetech EU Def Tech forges. Events to find battlefield solutions and test those solutions. So, learning from Ukraine, we set up a new EU initiative called AGILE programme. To get products to market quickly. Designed for speed: Four months to get a grant. And project times: between one and three years. If successful, we shall continue AGILE on a larger scale with the new MFF from 2028. I want to thank all the business angels here today. What you do is really important. Life-changing for start ups. And future–defining for Europe. A lot of money is coming for defence – national and European. But European private capital is still lagging behind. 65% of Defence Tech investment in the European Union comes from the US. And that is not good for our strategic autonomy. We risk losing talent to other parts of the world. I want to make it easier for you to invest in defence. To reduce risk, so you can make companies grow. That's the model behind the Defence Equity Facility, set up with the European Investment Fund. 175 million in equity to mobilise 500 million in private capital. To support innovative start ups, SMEs and Mid Caps. It's very successful. We already nearly mobilised the full 500 million. So later this year we will launch the Defence Equity Facility 2.0. Now with a 5 times bigger budget: 1 billion euro, to mobilise even more private investment. Space, another part of my portfolio, is also an excellent investment. The space economy is going to triple in size. My experts tell me, returns on investments in European space companies could be massive: Some companies could have returns of ten times, twenty times, thirty times. And like defence, we support your space investments. With CASSINI, a 1 billion seed fund mobilising 2 billion in private space investment. Last year alone, companies backed by CASSINI mobilised nearly 1 billion euro. And we also support big investment. With the upcoming Scaleup Europe Fund for 100-200 million euro investment rounds. ********** A final word why we are doing all this. Why we are spending public money, on private ventures. The goal of businesses and investors is to make money. A legitimate goal. As Commission we have additional goals. First, a strong space and defence sector. Essential for our European competitiveness. If you are successful, Europe is successful. It means more Defence and Space Single Market in Europe. More growth and more jobs. If you benefit, people benefit. And second, strong modern, innovative space and defence companies are essential for our European strategic autonomy, including our defence readiness. And for our possibility to fight the wars of tomorrow. If you are strong - Europe is strong. And we can deter Russian aggression. You can be proud to contribute to these important goals. And we, as Eurocrats, are lucky, when we see how many of you are not afraid of risk. For our common benefit. Thanks a lot! SPEECH/26/1215
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