• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Press statement by President von der Leyen on the Commission's proposals regarding REPowerEU, defence investment gaps and the relief and reconstruction of Ukraine

European Commission

Statement
18 May 2022
Brussels

Good afternoon,

We see now that since almost three months, Russia is waging a brutal war against Ukraine. And it threatens all those that support Ukraine in its legitimate defence against this aggressor. Putin's war poses fundamental challenges to our Union. And thus, today, we had a huge package in the College of Commissioners that was dealing with the topics that emerged because of this war. For example, today, it was on the energy security of supply. There was a big file on defence. And we were dealing with a big file on the support for our neighbour Ukraine. And this, I want to report here.

First, on the energy topic: Putin's war is, as we all see, heavily disrupting the global energy market. It shows, on one hand, how dependent we are on imported fossil fuels. But it also shows how vulnerable we are to rely on Russia for importing our fossil fuels. And therefore, we must now reduce as soon as possible our dependency on Russian fossil fuels. I am deeply convinced that we can. And thus, today, we presented our plan to realise these objectives. The plan that we call REPowerEU. If you look at what has been done already, this shows that it is an ongoing process. We have phased out of coal. Or if you look at the gas: Last year, 40% of the imported gas was imported from Russia to the European Union. This year already, in April, we were down to 26%. So it is going in the right direction but we have to accelerate.

And with REPowerEU, we show that we can replace Russian fossil fuels by working on three levels: The first level is on the demand side. That is saving energy. It sounds simple, it is simple, but very effective. Then on the supply side, it is, of course, diversifying away from Russia for fossil fuels and towards other reliable trustworthy suppliers. And the most important part: accelerating the clean energy transition, so massive investment in renewable energy. Fortunately, we do have already in place the foundation for doing this. Because we have, as you know, already embarked on a transformation of our energy system to become climate neutral - this is the famous European Green Deal. And this European Green Deal and Fit for 55 were already ambitious. But today, we are taking our ambition yet to another level to make sure that we become independent from Russian fossil fuels as quickly as possible. This whole approach is REPowerEU. REPowerEU will help us to save more energy, to accelerate the phasing out of fossil fuels, and most importantly, to kick-start investments on a new scale. So I would say that this will be the speed-charging for our European Green Deal.

To start with the most obvious: That is energy savings. Energy savings are the quickest and the cheapest way to address the current energy crisis. We will therefore increase the EU energy efficiency target for 2030 from 9% to 13%. Then there is the massive investment in renewable energy - the biggest task. Here, we are increasing our target for 2030 from 40% renewable energy to 45% renewable energy. And in REPowerEU, we come with a whole host of actions to scale up and speed up the clean energy transition. I want to give you a few examples. We are, for example, proposing to speed up the permitting procedures for renewables. As you might know, today, it can last six to nine years to have the permitting process ready, for a wind park, for example. We now want to define go-to areas and make sure that, there, the permitting process is down to one year. The same goes for the permitting process for associated infrastructure, like grids. Or - another example - we are proposing a solar rooftop obligation for commercial and public buildings as of 2026, and for new residential buildings as of 2029. I know that this is ambitious but it is realistic, we can do it. Now, the third part is to look at diversifying away to other suppliers. And here, we know that when Europe acts together, it has more clout. And therefore, the 27 Leaders agreed to set up a platform for the joint purchase, as you know, for gas, LNG and hydrogen. As part of our REPowerEU plan, we now propose an operational way forward. So with a joint procurement mechanism and with a joint outreach to supplying countries. This way, we can secure the energy imports we need without the competition between our Member States - that is something we do not need. All of this, what I have just described, will of course require massive investments and reforms. We are mobilising close to EUR 300 billion. Approximately EUR 72 billion will be in grants and approximately EUR 225 billion in loans. This will include some financing - round about EUR 10 billion - in missing links for gas and LNG so that no Member State is left in the cold. And up to EUR 2 billion for oil infrastructure in view of stopping the shipment of Russian oil. All the rest of the financing, that is 95% of the overall financing, will go into speeding up and scaling up the clean energy transition.

Now, we need to do the same on defence. And that was the today's second package. We all know that the return of warfare to Europe has underlined the effects of years of defence underspending. We have basically lost a decade in defence investment because of all these cuts. However, and that is good news, Member States are now reversing this trend. They have announced an additional EUR 200 billion in defence spending over the next few years. Now we must keep the momentum. But more important is not only the money that will be invested, but how it will be invested. Therefore, we must make sure that this money is spent in a coordinated way, that it addresses the capability gaps we obviously have, that Europe has identified, be it in the European Union or in NATO. And that the way of spending strengthens our European defence industrial base in the longer term. We ask for joint procurement because joint procurement is better operationally for our armed forces, because this strengthens the interoperability between the armed forces. It is better financially, because of the economy of scale. And it is better industrially, because it strengthens our industrial base here in the European Union. And it strengthens our vast network of innovative SMEs. For that, we will immediately set up a Task Force with Member States to coordinate the immense needs of procurement and replenishment, right away. This Task Force will be accompanied by a financial incentive instrument to purchase jointly. The experience is: If you nudge the Member States by a financial incentive instrument, it is really easier to go forward together. And finally, in fall, we will propose a regulation to make sure that joint procurement benefits from full VAT exemption. This will strengthen our independence and resilience. And at the same time, it will strengthen NATO, too.

Finally, my third and last topic, I want to come back to Russia's war on Ukraine. This war is the driver of this acceleration in our efforts to strengthen Europe's resilience. We know that Ukraine is on the frontline and defending our European values. We will continue to be by their side throughout this war and when they will rebuild their country. This is the third issue I wanted to inform you about today. We are proposing for Ukraine to top up the significant short-term relief provided until now with a new exceptional macro-financial assistance to Ukraine of up to EUR 9 billion in 2022. This is for the short term, for the relief right now, to support the government, this is a budget support. But, of course, we need to think about the day after and the wider reconstruction efforts. Here, the European Union has a responsibility and the European Union has a strategic interest in leading this reconstruction effort. As you know, the EU Leaders invited us to reflect on this at their meeting in Versailles. And that is what we did.

And today, we come with principles on how to build such a facility or such a platform. The reconstruction principles should combine investment and, immediately, reforms. In time, this combination of investment and reform will support Ukraine in pursuing its European path. So it is very important for the accession process. It should be a future-proof plan, fully reflecting the needs identified by Ukraine. The plan would tackle key reforms in areas such as anticorruption, administrative capacity, the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary, you name it. And, of course, it should be firmly anchored in the green and digital transitions, and the fundamental European values. But of course, the European Union would and should not be the only one contributing to this effort. This is why we are proposing a reconstruction platform as part of this plan. So a platform jointly led by Ukraine and the European Commission, and bringing thus together the Member States, with their contribution; bilateral donors; international donors; the international financial institutions; and other like-minded partners. The aim of this platform would be to agree on the direction of travel and to ensure maximum synergies of all efforts. These investments will help Ukraine to emerge stronger and more resilient from the devastation caused by Putin's army. Today is another milestone on our way to more Europe. This is also about seizing the moment. And this is our moment.