European Commission - Questions and answers Interventions by President von der Leyen at the panel discussion at the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum Ankara, 7 July 2026 Q President von der Leyen, how do you see the new environment in which the defence industry has become so important for all of us, both at NATO and in the European Union President von der Leyen: Thank you for so much for having us here. This is inde...
European Commission - Questions and answers Interventions by President von der Leyen at the panel discussion at the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum Ankara, 7 July 2026 Q President von der Leyen, how do you see the new environment in which the defence industry has become so important for all of us, both at NATO and in the European Union President von der Leyen: Thank you for so much for having us here. This is indeed a great opportunity to show how closely we are working together – the European Union and NATO. I was just thinking today: one of the reasons is, my dear friend Mark, that we both have experience on both sides. Mark was Prime Minister for 14 years, so he was in the European Council. And I was Defence Minister for five years, so I was sitting in NATO. Now it is the other way around. And therefore, we both know how important a close cooperation between the European Union and NATO is. Second, I just listened to the panel before us: it is very clear; all Member States of the European Union and allies have one single set of forces. So they assign these single sets of forces either to NATO missions or to EU missions, UN missions or to a coalition of the willing. But to make this possible, what we need is interoperability. And of course, in this geostrategic and geopolitical environment, we need a massive surge in defence investment. And here, the European Union is indeed massively stepping up. We have our ReArm Europe programme, which mobilises up to €800 billion until 2030. In this we have the SAFE programme – €150 billion euros for joint procurement. And not to forget, the next long-term budget will have €131 billion for military capabilities, plus €17 billion for military mobility, which is also of utmost importance for streets, bridges, ports, airports, etcetera; the infrastructure has to be here on the European side as well. And on SAFE, as I said, the joint procurement is very important for us. Here we have good news. We have now 10 agreements worth €100 billion. SAFE is, per design, also open to partners and other countries. 35% of the cost components can go outside the European Union. But of course, 65% have to be in the European Union. And that is the point, how we strengthen the defence industrial base. Because with this taxpayer's money we of course want a return on investment, we want good jobs in Europe, and we want research and development in Europe, so that is important for us. My last point on this. For countries outside the European Union, there is the possibility to open the door more than the 35%. If a country has signed a security and defence agreement with the EU they can participate in joint procurement. And here Canada is the first one to have done this. So these possibilities are also there and you see a wide spectrum of investment. Q Since we have Turkish participants here in the audience, how do you see the involvement of non-EU allies? You mentioned Canada but there are others, including Türkiye. What is a way forward to properly involve Türkiye in such projects? If you can touch upon it, I am sure they will be quite receptive. President von der Leyen: Türkiye is one of the largest armed forces within NATO. It is of very big importance and has always played an important role in the Alliance, and in the relationship with the European Union. And as I said, if you only look at SAFE, €150 billion - up to 35% of that is a lot. And this is open to work with countries outside the EU, for example, Türkiye. When it comes to the €800 billion until 2030 – it is the decision of the Member States on how to invest their defence allocation to fill the gaps. So there is a wide opportunity to have a very close cooperation with each other. For us, it is very important to be totally aligned with the NATO targets because, as I said, the one single set of forces, we know where the gaps are, and we have to work very closely together to close them. So, for example, the NATO Defence Planning Process (NDPP), is very important for us so that we fill the gaps in a cost-efficient manner. But I want to add another point. We also want to work very closely with Ukraine. The panel before us described the phenomenal innovative power that Ukraine has. And we have to use this. Because we have to step up in our defence capabilities fast, at a reasonable cost, and smart. And Ukraine has proven all this in the last years under the immense pressure of the war. This is the reason why the European Union, for the first time, opened our Innovation Office in Kyiv to have direct contact with the Ukrainian industrial base. Secondly, we are encouraging our companies to enter into joint ventures with Ukrainian companies. And thirdly, as the European Union, we are working on a longer- term partnership to see how we can boost our cutting edge technology production in our defence industrial base, together with Ukraine. We can learn a lot from Ukraine, and we have to learn a lot. Because not only are they highly innovative, but they are also battlefield-experienced. So this whole picture shows how much we are stepping up, together with NATO because we share the same interests and we share the same values. Q There is a general geopolitical transformation with its unfortunate rupture. And certainly, it is necessary to also have a transformation of mindset. It perhaps requires, as many have touched upon already, not to see governments as the only stakeholder but it should be a combination of contributions from others, including industry. So we rather used to talk about a whole-of-government approach. Perhaps on resilience you may talk a bit about a whole-of-society approach. President von der Leyen: The whole-of-society approach is very important. Because we do not only see the conventional, or let us say the military threat out there, but the whole hybrid attacks that we are suffering from that are targeting society. For example, if you take foreign interference and manipulation of information, largely internet-based, this is a big issue which is targeting society's vulnerability and where you have to build resilience. And this is something we are working intensively on to set the record straight and to convince people with real facts and figures. In these internet- based debates, we need to be clear on the truth - what the right facts and figures are. And you can win these battles. We have seen in different scenarios that you can really convince people. If you look at the Eurobarometer, which measures the opinions of European citizens, they say very clearly that one of their top concerns and worries is security and resilience. So Europeans have understood how important it is to defend our democracy, to defend our values, and to stand up for freedom and for peace. So this whole-of-society approach is the precondition to be successful. QANDA/26/1553 Press contacts: Paula PINHO (+32 2 29 20815) Arianna PODESTA (+32 2 298 70 24) Olof GILL (+32 2 29 65966) General public inquiries: Europe Direct by phone 00 800 67 89 10 11 or by email
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