European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Keynote speech by Commissioner Kubilius in the conference "Military Schengen 2026. Military Logistics: Requirements for Infrastructure and Carriers" Hamburg, 7 October 2026 Good afternoon, It's a pleasure to be in Hamburg. And to speak about military mobility. Because everybody knows, how important Hamburg Port is for the economy and what a significant role this P...
European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Keynote speech by Commissioner Kubilius in the conference "Military Schengen 2026. Military Logistics: Requirements for Infrastructure and Carriers" Hamburg, 7 October 2026 Good afternoon, It's a pleasure to be in Hamburg. And to speak about military mobility. Because everybody knows, how important Hamburg Port is for the economy and what a significant role this Port is playing in the whole landscape of European military mobility. And we need to discuss military mobility not as theoretical issue, but as an urgent and most important issue of our deterrence capability. Why? Because Russia is still not being deterred. Next year Russia will allocate 180 billion euro for its 2027 military budget, which will be 33% bigger than the budget for this year. In PPP terms Russia next year will spend the same amount or even a little bit more than all the EU Member States are going to spend together (around 500-550 billion euro); Russia is still outproducing us in defence industrial production, Russia is able to rapidly make military technological innovations, like new types of drones. If the day X would come in terms of possible Russian aggression, we will face a battle tested Russian army, with the ability to use 10 million drones per year (i.e. around 30 000 drones per day), with a war economy and a stronger army, than they had in 2022. Russia is preparing for a long war and confrontation. Why I am telling you this? Because our defence readiness has to speed up. Council and European Parliament have to understand this and deliver. And especially on military mobility. Because as General John Pershing, Commander of the American Army in the First World War said: “ infantry wins battles, logistics wins wars”. I absolutely subscribe to those words of General John Pershing. In Europe, the defence of each country depends on the collective European defence architecture, in which the movement of troops and equipment between different countries and regions has crucial importance. That is why our capability to deter aggression depends not only on how much we spend on defence, not only on what our defence industry can produce and what our militaries are procuring, but essentially and existentially on how, at what speed, in what quantities we can move military goods across the European continent. That is why the Commission has understood the importance of military mobility issues and has delivered. We delivered a long-expected military mobility package. It was expected by NATO, by European defence forces, by European generals, by logistic commands. And we delivered a carefully calibrated, but also ambitious proposal, how to tackle military mobility issues in Europe. In order to understand how heavy the challenge of military mobility is in Europe, we need to understand that military mobility is not only about how to speed up permits on the borders, customs procedures or how to improve transport infrastructure: roads, railways, bridges or tunnels. This is really important but this is not everything. First of all, we need to see the volume of what would be needed to be moved. The best way to do that, is to look into NATO defence plans, which are public. The so called NATO Force Model in Europe is based on the Three-Tier Readiness Structure, where forces are organized by how quickly they can deploy: Tier 1 (10 days): Rapid reaction forces (100,000 troops). Tier 2 (30 days): Follow-on forces (200,000 troops). Tier 3 (180 Days): Large-scale reinforcement (500,000+ troops). Just to understand what it means to move such amounts of troops, let's look into several publicly available numbers on the possible size of convoys or the need of transportation means: Land roads To move one brigade (from 3000 to 7000 troops) it will take from 500 to 1500 vehicles; For land movement on roads of one average size brigade (4500 troops), it may require 500 non-roadable vehicles, 1500 roadable vehicles, 800 dangerous goods containers and 500 general cargo containers. Convoys for such a land transportation of one brigade parked nose to nose may be up to 12 km length; For land movement of First tier NATO forces (100,000 troops, 20 brigades) convoys of trucks will be 20 times longer - 240 km length; Railways For a large-scale military deployment for one brigade equipment using railways, we may need up to 20-40 dedicated train formations. To move one brigade using railroads requires 350-600+ special flatbed wagons. Moving a light division (15,000 soldiers) requires up to 200 trains with 8,400 loaded wagons. Maritime For maritime transportation of NATO Tier 3 forces around 200 vessels might be necessary. The ships will need protection by escort units, mine-hunters, ice breakers and supply vessels; presently the EU depends on the 121 vessels of the US Navy Sealift Command. The challenge for us, EU institutions, NATO, Member States in military mobility are immense in the volume, and the need of proper preparedness and effective coordination. And that is why we proposed an ambitious and well balanced military mobility package, which I would rather call the military logistics package. We cannot afford to relax its ambition. Or to delay it. I hope that the Irish Presidency will do the utmost to successfully conclude trilogue negotiations still this year. We hope that the Council and European Parliament will work together to achieve an ambitious outcome. Let me remind you what this military mobility package is about: On Regulatory Barriers to military mobility In our Military Mobility package we are, first of all, breaking down legal obstacles to military mobility. Today we have freedom of movement – but not if you ' re a soldier. If you are a brigadier general, and today you get the order to move out your brigade, you will be first of all buried in paperwork. In some Member States, you need to give 45 days advance notice, for troop movements. In one Member State customs officials stopped allied tanks because they were too heavy. They had to go by boat instead – weeks instead of days. On top of bureaucracy there is fragmentation. Not only nationally but even regionally. Different rules, different procedures, for every Member State. Causing delay, upon delay. It can take months, to move from Spain to the Baltics. That is not acceptable. That will not deter Putin. So we are now bringing unity to our military mobility. Moving closer towards a military Schengen. Replacing a patchwork of 27 different national rules with one single, clear European rulebook. Ensuring that the same rules apply to military transport, whether carried out by the armed forces themselves or by civilian contractors for the armed forces. Facilitating military transport of dangerous goods and of overweight and oversized cargo. Cutting movement from weeks and months to days. With one single European permit, valid for the entire European Union. To be issued within three days at most. An ad hoc permit or standing permit, which is valid until revoked – so that they don ' t need to be renewed all the time. In addition, - streamlined customs formalities and use of one single customs document. And to speed things up: a single digital platform for cross-border transport permissions and customs formalities. Once the platform is established all ad hoc and standing permission procedures will be done through this digital tool. On EMERS If there is a real emergency situation – then waiting three days for permits is still too long. For times of emergency, we are proposing a completely new system, called the European Military Mobility Enhanced Response System (EMERS), which can be activated by the Council. Key points: No more permits to move soldiers. It will be enough to notify (6 hours notice) the country you need to cross. EU-wide priority access to transport networks for the military. Military exemptions for traffic restrictions. Derogations from rules on driving times and rest periods. And faster customs procedures. On dual use infrastructure Here in Hamburg, close to the harbour let me stress the issue of infrastructure, one of the cornerstones of military mobility. So I welcome the plans for dual use investment, civilian and military, in Hamburg harbour. The mayor says 8 billion euro is needed. Especially for bridges. We will invest also on the European level. To remove chokepoints on 500 hotspots along Europe ' s four military mobility corridors. We propose for the next multi-annual European budget – the MFF – €17 billion investment for dual- use transport infrastructure. Investment that will also benefit our citizens – better roads and bridges, better rail connections will be good for travel and trade. But only if we remain ambitious – so I call on you to fully support our proposal for the next MFF. On the Solidarity Pool To make things concrete, let ' s go back to that brigadier general. You can have all the permits you want, but if you don ' t have trucks, trains, boats or planes you will go nowhere. As military experts say: there is no army in the world, able to posses all the means of transportation, needed for the Army in case of a major crisis. The numbers, which I was speaking about earlier, are clear proof that those military experts are speaking the truth. That ' s why we also proposed a Solidarity Pool, so Member States can share means of transport. Like lorries, flatbed rail carriages, cargo ships, cargo planes. Centrally coordinated and registered in advance. With an overview of all registered capabilities in the union: both public and private. That can operate 24/7. We proposed that EU Member States can register capabilities on a voluntary basis, unless Union funding was used for procurement of the capability. And the Union will register dual use capabilities (EU capabilities or EU contracted services with commercial operators). Also we proposed that the European Competitiveness Fund in the next MFF would be able to give financial support for pooling and sharing. In short: if a crisis comes there will be massive demand of transport means. The solidarity pool will be essential to manage the supply and demand of vehicles for military mobility. To avoid duplication. To make most efficient use of the resources we have. It's clear: our defence depends on it. On defence and sustainability of transport infrastructure. And we must protect our critical infrastructure. Which is already under attack. Here in Germany: the attack on Leipzig airport, on the rail network. Critical infrastructure should be identified by Member States under coordination of Commission, according to our Military Mobility package. Member States will have the responsibility to protect strategic dual use infrastructure, including our harbours like Hamburg. On Governance It ' s clear - moving troops across Europe will be a massive undertaking. We need to be able to manage it. That ' s why we also proposed a system of governance. With National Coordinators and a Military Mobility Transport Group, ensuring a whole-of-government approach at EU-level. The Group is to be chaired by the Commission and to advise the Commission on the implementation of the Military Mobility regulation. And to work together with NATO. To coordinate national actions and investment priorities and build mobility assets. And to coordinate Annual Readiness Checks and stress tests and to make sure military movement is fast and efficient. In closing let ' s also be clear what doesn ' t change. Member States and NATO are in charge of defence. NATO makes defence plans. And determines what capabilities are needed. Identifies where forces need to move. But those plans will work only if we can move soldiers and equipment across the continent – and fast. We need our European military mobility rules to defend Europe according to NATOs plans. And at a high level of ambition. Now we are at a decisive moment. Trilogue negotiations are taking place between Parliament and Council. And now there is possibility, that our proposals will be watered down. Its ambition diminished and impact diluted. A watered down regulation also means watered down deterrence. For the solidarity pool to work it needs to be clear and predictable. We need to be able to identify the gaps. For the emergency system to work, it must be applied everywhere in the entire Union in the same way. No fragmentation, no opt outs. That will only complicate things and slow us down. For our military mobility to work, there needs to be EU added value. That can be achieved only with a clear role for the European Union. So I call on you, to support our proposal. To make sure ambition stays high. Let me remind you: NATO ' s largest post Cold War exercise, Steadfast Defender, was 90,000 troops over 5 months. To move 500,000 troops in 180 days across Europe - we ' ve never done it before. And we might need to do so, sooner than we realise. Sooner than we like. This is a challenge we have never faced before, that our generation, our union has never faced before. Never. NATO alone cannot do it. Member States alone cannot do it. Military and civilians alone cannot do it. But as a Union together – we can. SPEECH/26/2098 <@rel_link@>
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