EU to set up 5,000-troop response force in 'quantum leap' for bloc's security

Leaders expected to approve security strategy at summit this week

Germany has offered to provide the core of the 5,000-strong response force in its first year. AFP

Live updates: follow the latest news on Russia-Ukraine

The European Union will establish a 5,000-troop response force and hold joint military drills under a blueprint for a more muscular defence and security policy agreed in the shadow of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The EU's Strategic Compass has been two years in the making but its approval by the EU’s 27 member states on Monday coincided with efforts to strengthen Europe's security to face up to a more hostile Russia.

A 47-page text agreed by EU foreign and defence ministers calls for a “quantum leap forward” in the bloc’s military capacity during what it described as a “tectonic shift in European history”.

It envisages regular exercises on land and at sea, stronger intelligence capabilities and sending up to 200 civilian mission experts into fraught environments to deal with crises such as migration and terrorism.

The 5,000-troop contingent, which could be used for rescue missions such as the evacuation from Kabul last year, will supersede rotating units known as battle groups which were set up in 2007 but never used.

It is scheduled to become operational by 2025, and Germany said it was willing to provide the core of the force in the first year. Ministers promised to streamline decision-making so it could be quickly put to work.

Other measures in the package to be in operation by 2030 include a new cyber defence policy, a space strategy for security and a drive for technological innovation within the EU’s borders.

Europe’s militaries will also develop strategies by the end of 2023 to prepare for the security implications of climate change.

The paper was hailed by France as a vindication of the long-held ambitions for European sovereignty that it has championed during its six-month presidency of the EU.

The drive for more autonomy and the proposal for a European rapid response force gained momentum last year after the messy exit from Afghanistan exposed Europe’s reliance on the US.

“A more hostile environment and wider geopolitical trends call for the EU to shoulder a greater share of responsibility for its own security,” said the text signed off in Brussels.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, right, spearheaded the adoption of the new security blueprint. AFP

But it described a more security-focused EU as a complement to Nato and said the US-led alliance remained the foundation of Europe’s defence, given unease across much of the continent at any move to loosen ties with Washington at a time of hostility with Russia.

America remained “the EU’s staunchest and most important strategic partner”, said the paper, which also said the bloc was open to a formal post-Brexit security partnership with Britain if it changes its mind about negotiating one.

Russia, by contrast, is described as a “long-term and direct threat for European security” in a passage which refers not only to Ukraine but to Moscow’s interventions in Libya and Syria and its alleged use of mercenaries.

The paper, which echoed Nato’s calls for more defence spending by European countries, was expected to be endorsed by the 27 heads of government on Friday.

“The threats are rising and the cost of inaction is clear,” said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who steered the process of agreeing the Strategic Compass and has called for Europe to “learn to speak the language of power”.

“Over the next decade, we will make a quantum leap to become a more assertive and decisive security provider, better prepared to tackle present and future threats and challenges,” he said. “If not now, then when?”.

A firefighter works at a residential district that was damaged by shelling, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Reuters

A woman removes pieces of broken glass from a shop window after a bombing in Kyiv, Ukraine. AP

Residents clean the street outside apartments damaged by shelling, in Kyiv, Ukraine. AP

A man walks at a residential district that was damaged by shelling, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Reuters

Rescuers work at the site of buildings damaged by shelling, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. Reuters

Launch of missiles by the coastal missile system 'Bastion' on infrastructure facilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from an undisclosed position in Crimea. As a result of a strike with long-range precision weapons, an arsenal with weapons and military equipment of Ukrainian troops in the village of Orzhev, 14 kilometres north-west of the city of Rivne, two Tochka-U launchers near Kiev, and eight anti-aircraft missile systems were destroyed. EPA

Pictures lie amidst the rubble of former teacher Natalia's house which was was hit in a military strike, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Reuters

A Ukrainian serviceman rests at his position in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP

A hug for a child at the railway station in Przemysl, near the Polish-Ukrainian border, as Ukrainian refugees make their way out of the war zone. AFP

Displaced Ukrainians on a Poland-bound train bid farewell at Lviv, western Ukraine. AP

Ukrainian servicemen rest in Kharkiv. AP

A car wrecked and burnt by shelling in a street in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP

A member of pro-Russian unit in uniform without insignia handles a mortar round at a weapons depot near Marinka, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. Reuters

The aftermath of shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. EPA

Nurses in tears after Russian shelling of a psychiatric hospital in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine. AFP

Candles and lights form a giant peace sign during the Avaaz vigil in front of the European Council and Commission buildings in Brussels, Belgium. AP

A wrecked car in a ruined street in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP

Rescue workers at an industrial building damaged by an air strike in Kyiv, Ukraine. Reuters

The monument to the Duke of Richelieu, one of the founders of the city of Odesa, is covered by sand bags. Near by, a placard shows the building before the Russian invasion. EPA

People clean up a room in an apartment building in Kyiv destroyed in an air raid, as Russia presses on with its invasion of Ukraine. Reuters

An instructor shows citizens how to fire the weapon during a shooting training session in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine. Reuters

Russian troops hurl stun grenades at demonstrators protesting against the invasion, in Kherson, Ukraine. Reuters

Ukrainian servicemen stand guard at a military checkpoint in Kyiv. AFP

Ukrainian refugees Sasha Alexandra and Olena embrace shortly before being allowed to cross into the United States to seek asylum in Tijuana, Mexico. They fled their city of Dnipro this month and travelled to Germany before flying to Mexico. AFP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a broadcast speech in Kyiv, calling on citizens to 'drive the occupiers out'. EPA

An unexploded rocket in a cemetery in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine. AFP

A portrait of a young woman who died during a Russian attack, next to her fresh grave in the Mykolaiv cemetery. AFP

Tents set up for Ukrainian refugees inside a train station in Bucharest, Romania. AFP

Workers cover a sculpture outside the home of Lviv National Opera to protect it from damage amid fighting in Ukraine. Reuters

Olena, the mother of Denys Snihur, a 25-year-old soldier killed by Russian shelling in the northern town of Ovruch, mourns him at his funeral in Lviv. Reuters

All that is left of a shopping centre after shelling in Kyiv. AP

Civilian volunteers attend a Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces training camp in Brovary, north-east of Kyiv. AP

Refugees at a temporary accommodation centre in a school gymnasium in Taganrog, Russia. EPA

Oil storage tanks burn in Chernihiv, Ukraine, in a satellite image from Maxar Technologies. EPA

President Joe Biden discusses the US response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine at the Business Roundtable CEO Quarterly Meeting. EPA

The wreck of a Russian military vehicle near Kharkiv. EPA

Firefighters work at the site of a shopping centre bombing in Kyiv. Reuters

Seven-year-old Amellia Anisovych, a refugee from Ukraine, sings the Ukraine national anthem at the start of a fund-raising concert in Lodz, Poland. Amellia became known for singing a song from the film 'Frozen' in a bomb shelter in Kyiv. AP

People queue at the National Stadium in Warsaw to apply for ID numbers that will entitle them to work and receive free health care and education in Poland. AP

Checkout tills are damaged at a supermarket in a shopping centre that was damaged in a bombing in Kyiv. Reuters

Cars are damaged at the site of a bombing at a shopping center in Kyiv. Reuters

A woman comforts a boy while refugees wait for Ukrainian police to check their papers and belongings in Brovary, Ukraine. AP

A refugee family sit in front of a tent at a temporary shelter offered by the Free Christian Church in Uszka, Hungary. Getty Images

Firefighters carry a ladder across the debris following Russian shellings that destroyed the Retroville shopping mall in Kyiv. AFP

A rescuer inside a shopping mall damaged by an airstrike in Kyiv. Reuters

Florence Parly, France’s Defence Minister, said the war in Ukraine had exposed strengths and weaknesses of European defence after Russia could not be deterred from attacking Ukraine.

“More than ever, when war has returned to the European continent, we have to display a clear and unambiguous ambition,” she said.

The shift comes at a time when Nato is also rewriting its strategic blueprint, which was last updated in 2010 at a time when the alliance hoped for co-operation with Russia.

Although there is much overlap between the 30 Nato countries and 27 EU member states, the new European response force could bring in troops from non-Nato nations such as Sweden and Finland.

Nato’s senior generals have been tasked with rethinking its long-term posture towards Russia after countries moved to shore up the bloc’s eastern flank and prevent the war in Ukraine from escalating.

Some Nato countries, notably Germany, have committed to increase defence spending in the face of what they call a changed security environment.