EU Commission to propose dedicated defence and space investment in new fund
European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas walks, on the day of a meeting on the latest developments in Ukraine and security in Europe, at Villa Madama in Rome, Italy, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane/File Photo
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission will propose dedicating part of a new European Competitiveness Fund to resilience, defence and space, the EU executive's leadership said on Wednesday.
The Commission is expected to put forward a plan for a competitiveness fund to invest in strategic sectors and innovation as part of an upcoming proposal for the bloc's 2028-2034 budget.
"The gap to fill, after years of underinvestment and under attention to defence, is large," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote in a letter to European leaders on Wednesday.
"This is why the Commission's proposal for the next Multiannual Financial Framework will also address the need for substantial funding for defence in the years to come through a dedicated Resilience, Defence and Space window of the European Competitiveness Fund," they wrote.
EU leaders are expected to discuss defence priorities during a summit in Brussels on Thursday.
The discussion will take place a day after a NATO summit in The Hague, where alliance members committed to boosting defence spending to 5% of Gross Domestic Product.
(Reporting by Lili Bayer)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Barnama
2 hours ago
- Barnama
Irish Premier Calls For EU Sanctions On Israeli Settlers In Occupied West Bank, Far-Right Ministers
BRUSSELS, June 26 (Bernama-Anadolu) -- Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin has called on the EU to impose sanctions on violent Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, as well as far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, over their role in escalating tensions, Anadolu Ajansi (AA) reported. Speaking ahead of the European Council summit in Brussels on Thursday, Martin stressed that the EU must take stronger action, including reviewing its Association Agreement with Israel, to ensure compliance with international human rights standards. He also criticised Israel for dismissing independent reports on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, urging it to engage with objective assessments rather than outright denouncing them.
The Sun
3 hours ago
- The Sun
Germany's Merz joins EU migration hawks meet
BRUSSELS: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz took part in a meeting of EU immigration hawks in Brussels Thursday, participants confirmed, in a sign of Berlin's hardening stance on migration. It marked the first time a German leader has attended the gathering, which has become a stable fixture on the sidelines of EU summits of the bloc's leaders over the past year. 'We're delighted that Germany is on board for the first time,' Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said ahead of the meeting he described as a 'pressure group' pushing to make the European Union's migration policy 'much stricter'. Co-organised by Italy, Denmark and The Netherlands, the migration talks were attended by more than a dozen of the bloc's 27 leaders as well as European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen. Crystallising the growing influence of the hard right within the bloc, it has served as a platform for hardliners to push the commission to pass new rules to reduce arrivals and boost deportations. Germany's conservative-led government, which took power in May, has pursued a crackdown on irregular immigration, seeking to combat the growing appeal of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. As part of the new strategy, it emerged this week that Berlin plans to suspend funding for non-government groups that rescue migrants in the Mediterranean. The foreign ministry under the previous coalition, headed by the Greens party minister Annalena Baerbock, had provided substantial financial support for such groups. New Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Thursday defended the decision against criticism from migrant rescue groups, arguing that it was 'the right thing to do'. Germany remains 'committed to humanity and will always work to help people wherever they are suffering', Wadephul said in Berlin. 'But I do not believe it is the task of the foreign ministry to fund this form of sea rescue at this time.' Instead, he said Germany should focus on 'using diplomatic means to ensure that such waves of migration can be reduced'.
The Sun
5 hours ago
- The Sun
Spain's Constitutional Court backs Catalan separatist amnesty
MADRID: Spain's Constitutional Court on Thursday said it had approved an amnesty for Catalan separatists involved in an abortive 2017 independence bid, a victory for the leftist government that staked its survival on the divisive law. A banned secession referendum and short-lived declaration of independence in the northeastern Catalonia region in 2017 triggered the EU member state's worst political crisis in decades. Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez agreed to the amnesty in exchange for Catalan separatist parties' support to secure a new term in office after 2023 elections produced a hung parliament. Lawmakers last year narrowly approved the bill, which the government says has restored calm and political normality to Catalonia after the unrest and polarisation that preceded and followed the referendum. But it infuriated the Spanish right which accuses Sanchez of flouting the rule of law and pardoning the instigators of a 'coup' to cling to power. The Constitutional Court announced it had rejected most points of an appeal against the amnesty's constitutionality by the main conservative Popular Party (PP) by six votes to four. 'The amnesty is not forbidden by the constitution, and its adoption, when it responds to an exceptional situation and a legitimate end of public interest, may be constitutionally admissible,' the court said in a statement. Sanchez welcomed the news, telling reporters in Brussels that Spain was 'closing a political crisis that should never have left politics'. But PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo insisted from Brussels that the amnesty was 'a corrupt transaction of impunity in exchange for power' and 'an attack against the separation of powers'. Judges apply the law on a case-by-case basis and dozens of figures from the Catalan independence movement have benefited. But the amnesty has not applied to separatist figurehead Carles Puigdemont, who led Catalonia's regional administration during the referendum and fled abroad to avoid prosecution. The Constitutional Court did not state whether embezzlement, a charge that prevents Puigdemont's inclusion in the amnesty, should come under the law.
