Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1464183
11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 APRIL 2022 NEWS Russian invasion turns up appetite for real European defence union SEBASTIAN VASSALLO CALLS for a stronger European de- fence union are gaining traction among EU leaders, with European Parliament president Robert Metsola appealing for larger national budgets to finance a "real security and defence Union" in the wake of Russian aggression in Ukraine. Metsola's comments were made in her address to Council meetings following the Russian invasion, where she called for 'taboo-busting' moves to increase EU security budgets "and make the De- fence Union a reality." Almost overnight, the EU has become a major player in countering the Russian threat, forcing it to take a fresh look at its defence budgets, and the supply of weapons to Ukraine. The EPP's own hawkish stance explic- itly calls on the EU to "set aside the soft power approach and be able to put in place credible strength to provide for its own security, within NATO and EU structures". That position is shared by Metsola's Nationalist Party colleague David Casa, who told MaltaToday that "taboos on EU defence have been shattered by Pu- tin's unprecedented aggression." Casa says that while EU member states are obliged to come to the aid of member states who suffer an armed aggression on its territory, there was little peace of mind in the face of Putin's aggression. "While we are grateful to have close al- lies like the US and the UK, we cannot be so reliant on them for our defence. In times like these, nothing is absolutely certain. But what is certain is that Eu- rope needs to be much better prepared to answer the challenges based on the urgent realities that we face today." Casa says Malta cannot be neutral to the grave breaches of sovereignty that endanger its own nationhood. "Standing up for Ukraine at this hour is not an af- front to our neutrality. We are not the only neutral country in the European Union and the others are no less vocif- erous in their condemnation of Putin's invasion. Even Switzerland, a neutral country par excellence, took unprece- dented steps to sanction Putin and his allies for what they perceived as an un- precedented existential threat to the in- ternational order and to sovereignty. "What it means to be neutral is to avoid Malta being turned into a military base again. It absolutely does not preclude us from speaking out against injustice and offering support to a European nation whose citizens are being killed in an il- legal war." In past votes at the European Par- liament, the Labour MEP and former prime minister Alfred Sant has vocally opposed attempts to drive EU policy to- wards the development of an EU army under the guise of a defence and security policy. Sant has previously claimed that an EU army would eventually threaten Malta's neutrality. "The Brussels establishment believe the military and security dimension could foster a sense of unity in the EU at a time of division. "But they are trying to do this through the back door by emphasising terms like security, which overlaps with migration and terrorism, things that are of great interest to countries like Malta," Sant said. The Labour MEP said while coopera- tion on security matters was desirable the lines could be blurred. He also be- lieves that the drive to create an EU ar- my is hampered by the lack of a military doctrine. "The efforts are disparate and built on the contingent wishes of indi- vidual member states," Sant had told MaltaToday in the past. Sant has also expressed a certain de- gree of bemusement at the way sanc- tions against Russia were being framed, as well as the hesitation of certain mem- ber states, like Germany, to deploy them. He spoke wryly of EU foreign minis- ter Josep Borell's threat that sanctions would stop Russian elites' holidays on the French Riviera: "is this the way sanc- tions are being measured against a mili- tary invasion unseen since WWII?" Sant also said on Facebook that Russia, long accustomed to economic sanctions, had not been politically affected and even freed certain national industries from the pressures of global free trade. In February, Sant told the Europe- an Parliament plenary that the West had ignored Russia's "legitimate con- cerns" about its security, by breaking an open-ended promise not to extend its military reach in Europe. He said a high-handed approach from the EU and Nato had helped promote "a regrettable authoritarianism in Russia's governance", and ignored the Gaullist vision for a united Europe stretching to the Urals and Willy Brandt's Ost Politik. "Should not the goal have been a Euro- pean diplomatic architecture allowing equally for the security concerns of Rus- sia, its neighbours and Western Europe as a whole?" he asked. But in recent weeks, Sant said the thou- sands of senseless deaths at the hands of the Russian invasion have been "totally unacceptable". "In the last years, I had sympathy for some of the arguments from Russia on the expansion of Nato towards its fron- tiers, because deep down, they had a certain legitimacy. "But with the invasion of Ukraine and the ruthlessness of its conduct of war... Putin's Russia has lost any reason it might have ever had." EU defence efforts The 1992 Maastricht Treaty saw the European Union develop a common foreign and security policy (CFSP), the groundwork for a common defence pol- icy. The European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) of 1999 and the Lisbon Treaty of 2009, laid down the founda- tions for the European External Action Service. The European defence action plan was presented by the European Commission in November 2016, calling on Europe to take "responsibility for protecting its interests, values and European way of life", which led to the creation of PESCO (Permanent Structured Cooperation). Almost all member states participate in PESCO and although Malta has opted out, it is still integrated to a fairly rea- sonable degree with the European mil- itary structures and European defence partners through the European Defence Agency and NATO's Partnership for Peace programme. Following Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, member states' threat assessments of Russia moved much closer together. But debates on EU defence and EU-Russia relations moved on sepa- rate tracks. Defence initiatives such as Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) and the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence contained some pro- jects relevant to the defence of eastern member states, particularly the PESCO project on military mobility. However, the EU's military contribution to the security of these states has largely been indirect and marginal. svassallo@mediatoday.com.mt Top: EU leaders hold a roundtable conference with Ukrainian president Volydymyr Zelenskyy. INSET: Alfred Sant (S&D), and David Casa (EPP) "With the invasion of Ukraine and the ruthlessness of its conduct of war... Putin's Russia has lost any reason it might have ever had."