The European Union He needs, it seems, a Defense Commissioner, and he will have one. If nothing changes It will be the Lithuanian Andrius Kubilius, who underwent the European Parliament’s examination this Wednesdayon a day marked by Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential elections in the United States: it is a warning for the strategic autonomy of the EU, which will have to accelerate. Thus, Kubilius believes that the community bloc has to increase its military spending, but not because of Trump’s victory, but with an eye on Russia. “The threat is Putin”he declared before the MEPs.
The Lithuanian takes on the challenge without many qualms, and made it clear to the political groups. “You can call me the commissioner of peace, not the commissioner of militarizationbut “if you want peace, prepare for war,” he said to one of the questions, and assumed that the EU “has to take charge of its own security” seeing how events are taking place around the planet.
Kubilius did not want to anticipate the plans that the US has in the coming years, especially regarding aid to Ukraine, but he assumes that if Washington’s support for kyiv decreases It will have to be the EU “that takes charge of at least part”so that Zelensky’s troops do not lose strength against Moscow.
On the other hand, the Lithuanian assured that in his first 100 days in office, if he receives the approval of the European Parliament, he will present a strategy on the Defense of Europeled by the High Representative, Kaja Kallas. And there is no time to waste, he maintained. “There will be actions that will be immediate,” he explained during his hearingbefore repeating that “the best investment in European security is to invest in the security of Ukraine.”
He also spoke of the need of “spending more, spending better, spending together and spending in Europe” in Defenseincreasing production and demand for EU defense equipment, leveraging the EU budget to meet the bloc’s urgent military priorities and facilitating cross-border defense purchases. “We must achieve a true single defense market,” he said. As for space, Kubilius affirmed that Europe must be part of the “space revolution”and noted the need to continue advancing the EU’s flagship space programmes, working to ensure autonomous European access to space, introducing a new EU space law and supporting the competitiveness of the EU space industry.
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