Written by Rebecca Zamponi.
European Union leaders met in Brussels on 3 February 2025, for their first-ever meeting dedicated solely to defence issues. In the current challenging geopolitical context, the purpose of this first meeting of EU Heads of State or Government in 2025 – described as an ‘informal retreat’ – was to make ‘progress in discussions on building the Europe of defence’. The ‘frank, open, and free discussion’ covered three main issues: i) defence capabilities, ii) financing EU defence priorities, and iii) strengthening EU defence partnerships, with a focus on cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the transatlantic partnership, and the relationship with the United Kingdom (UK). The informal retreat was not intended to produce formal conclusions, but rather to provide the European Commission President and the High Representative with political guidance for the upcoming white paper on defence due on 19 March 2025. It also aimed at preparing the ground for important decisions on defence to be taken by the EU and the Member States in the coming months. Following recent statements by the President of the United States (US) Donald Trump, discussions also covered Greenland, and trade relations with the US in the context of the transatlantic partnership.
European Council meeting
General
The informal retreat – which was originally due to take place in Limont Castle, near Liège but was moved to Egmont Palace in Brussels for security reasons – took place in a challenging geopolitical context. As European Council President António Costa put it in his invitation letter to EU leaders: ‘we share a similar assessment of the threats Europe is facing’, including the war in Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East, hybrid attacks in the Baltic Sea, a more unpredictable US administration, an ambitious China, and cybersecurity attacks.
The meeting began with a discussion between the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, and the Heads of State or Government. The EU leaders then considered the new context of transatlantic relations, for defence issues and beyond. During lunch, Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary-General and former member of the European Council, joined a discussion on EU-NATO cooperation. In the afternoon, EU leaders focused on European defence. Finally, the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, joined EU leaders for a working dinner to discuss EU-UK security and defence cooperation, illustrating ‘the new positive energy in our relations’.
Defence issues have been a rolling topic on the EU leaders’ agenda over the last decade. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, defence has become increasingly salient, discussed at more than a quarter of all formal and informal European Council meetings. In addition, defence was discussed at other meetings; for instance at the November 2024 informal meeting in Budapest, in connection with EU competitiveness and the need to strengthen the EU defence industry. As António Costa remarked at the post-retreat press conference: ‘we have made progress in our discussions on building the Europe of Defence. We are driven by a shared sense of urgency. We are not discussing the “if” anymore. We are discussing how to do it.’
According to the indicative leaders’ agenda, EU defence will also be discussed in June and December 2025, with EU leaders most likely called to take important decisions deriving from discussions at the informal retreat as well as the proposals to be formulated in the white paper on defence.
European defence
Defence capabilities:As Costa underlined, a central point of discussion was strengthening European defence capabilities, which are to be ‘developed as matter of priority’. Member States have been working with the European Defence Agency to identify the most crucial gaps in the EU’s defence capabilities and intend, in full coherence with NATO, to concentrate on areas where the EU can bring real added value. Costa noted a strong focus on air and missile defence at the meeting. From EU leaders’ comments, it clearly appears that strengthening the EU’s defence industry would be a key element in the capabilities development process. The European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen outlined the main objectives in this respect: strengthening coordination, speeding up joint procurement to ensure interoperability, fostering defence innovation, and learning from Ukraine’s defence industry, which has expanded quickly.
Return on (defence) investment in terms of increased know-how and good jobs was also an important point in the EU leaders’ discussion, as both von der Leyen and Costa pointed out. A ‘European preference’ in defence procurement, reportedly advocated by France, did not find consensus. Germany, Poland, the Netherlands and the Baltic States all oppose restrictions on arms purchases from non-EU partners, which risk worsening relations with the US government. The reference to a return on investment in Europe seems therefore to indicate that efforts may be made to ensure a fair gain for Europe’s defence industry as well as the European economy and citizens.
Defence spending:A key aspect of the retreat was to identify ways to finance increased security and defence investment. Although EU Member States’ defence expenditure has increased by more than 30 % between 2021 and 2024, the current rate of defence spending – after years of underspending and with Europe now facing threats – is not considered enough by some EU leaders (such as Poland and the Baltic States). The Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, called on NATO members to spend 5 % of GDP on defence. Conversely, the Bulgarian Prime Minister, Rossen Jeliazkov, stated that existing commitments should be met before increasing defence spending targets, and until ‘a significant number of countries reach 2 %, it is still too early to talk about an increase’.
Three tiers of financing were discussed at the meeting. Firstly, ways of creating leeway in national budgets to enable Member States to increase defence spending and defence investment. President von der Leyen stated that the Commission would explore and make use of the flexibility options provided by the new Stability and Growth Pact, stressing that ‘for extraordinary times, it is possible to have extraordinary measures’. The second tier of financing involved working with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to extend the flexibility of lending practices. In January 2025, 19 EU leaders sent a letter to the EIB President, Nadia Calviño, calling for increased funding for the European defence industry. Whilst Ireland did not sign the letter, the Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin confirmed that his country would not stand in the way of other EU countries building up their defence capabilities. On this point, von der Leyen noted that the EU would have to supply the EIB with proposals for flagship projects, specifically the proposal for common advanced EU air defence proposed by Prime Ministers Donald Tusk and Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The third tier was the need to mobilise private financing. Considering private banks’ past reluctance to finance defence projects, the Commission would launch a dialogue with the sector to ‘modernise its lending practices’; this process could be eased by the EIB-level policy change.
One critical point in the debate on financing is the issue of joint debt. The point was not raised at the post-meeting press conference, most likely because EU leaders did not reach a unanimous position. In an interview, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, stressed there was a widespread view that more flexibility was needed to finance a massive expansion of defence investment, for example by borrowing. However, post-meeting he emphasised there ‘was no prospect of taking on joint debt’. Germany is therefore not opposed to an adaptation of the Stability and Growth Pact rules and to borrowing for defence purposes by individual Member States individually, but is against joint borrowing.
Defence partnerships
EU-US partnership: Developing a pragmatic cooperation with the US was a central topic for discussion. At the joint press conference, Costa referred to the US as ‘our friend, our ally, and our partner’, noting ‘problems and differences of views can come up, also between friends; but these must be addressed through dialogue, whilst still defending our values and upholding our principles, and without compromising our own interests’. President von der Leyen called the US the EU’s ‘most consequential relationship, and noted ‘the EU was ready for robust, but constructive dialogue’.
EU-NATO partnership: The EU and NATO share 23 common members (Austria, Cyprus, Ireland, and Malta not being members of NATO). In recent years, the 23 EU-NATO members have increased defence spending to meet the 2 % of GDP NATO guideline (although some have not met it yet). Before entering the meeting, Rutte highlighted ‘we have to ramp up defence spending, we have to ramp up defence production’. He also stressed NATO would define a new defence spending target based on the revised capability targets later in 2025, with a new objective ‘considerably higher than 2 %’. Following the meeting, Costa underlined that the EU’s partnership with NATO is strategic and crucial for transatlantic security.
EU-UK Partnership: Keir Starmer’s attendance at the informal dinner marks the first time a British Prime Minister has participated in a European Council meeting since Brexit. Starmer’s involvement in the meeting was preceded by the participation of British ministers in some Council meetings. In a recent speech, the High Representative, Kaja Kallas, stated that a new security and defence agreement between the EU and the UK would be the next logical step. In an interview, Starmer noted the UK would not re-join the EU, but that the two partners could have a closer relationship when it comes to issues such as trade and security. In the press conference after dinner, Costa noted the meeting had confirmed the ‘new positive energy’ between the EU and the UK. The British Prime Minister also called for focus on putting Ukraine in the strongest possible position, through training, military capability and financial support. As a next step, a joint summit in the UK, to further discuss EU-UK cooperation in the area of defence will take place in May 2025.
Greenland
In reference to then US President-elect Trump’s claims to acquire Greenland because his country ‘needs it for national security’ and ‘for protection of the free world’, Costa emphasised that ‘national sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders’ are values and principles that underline the international order established by the US and Europe since World War II.
Greenland was a Danish colony until 1953, when it became a district of Denmark, and remains part of the Danish Kingdom with two representatives in the Danish Parliament. In an interview, Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, reiterated that Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and is not for sale, stressing European partners’ support for Denmark on the matter. However, Frederiksen left the door open to increased US involvement in Greenland, stating ‘if it is about securing our part of the world, we can find a way forward’.
Rutte underlined that more needs to be done collectively on security in the region, implying that regional protection should be enhanced at NATO level. Greenland has a strategically important location and minerals. The US military Pituffik space base is key to US early missile warning and space surveillance infrastructure. The island is also at one end of the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom gap, and thus important for monitoring naval movements between the Arctic and North Atlantic. As the Arctic ice melts, it may also become an important location in terms of transatlantic shipping. The island has some of the largest deposits of rare earth minerals, which are crucial for the energy transition, the manufacture of batteries, high-tech devices and military equipment. Greenland could help reduce Western reliance on Chinese critical minerals.
Parliament’s President
In her speech at the opening of the informal retreat, Roberta Metsola stated that the EU must take more responsibility for its own security, and highlighted that the EU’s common security should not be considered in a vacuum, i.e. without considering the economic and political reality. Since becoming President of the European Parliament in January 2022, Metsola has mentioned EU defence issues in 40 % of her speeches at the start of European Council meetings. She has given a clear position and/or made concrete suggestions on multiple occasions. During her speech at the Versailles informal European Council meeting in March 2022, she stated that the EU must go beyond the European Defence Fund and use the EU budget to implement the Strategic Compass, make the Defence Union a reality and bring the Defence Agency under its umbrella. At the start of the June 2023 European Council meeting, Metsola highlighted that i) strengthening the EU defence-related industrial base, ii) improving defence innovation, iii) reducing dependencies, iv) becoming more autonomous, and v) building trust, must all be central to the EU’s security and defence policy. On various occasions, Metsola has also stated that the EU and NATO security and defence architecture should complement each other, rather than create duplication.
Since the start of her first mandate, Metsola has been consistently invited to speak not only at formal meetings, but also at informal meetings of the European Council. Her invitation to an informal meeting on defence issues is noteworthy, since Parliament’s previous presidents were only invited to informal European Council gatherings dealing with institutional issues and Treaty reform.
Main message of the EP President: Metsola made three appeals to the European Council: i) to do more to protect Europe; ii) to do more to finance this protection; and iii) to coordinate better. She concluded by repeating her call for ‘more action, more financing, and more cooperation. These must be our goals.’
Read this briefing on ‘Outcome of the EU leaders’ retreat on 3 February 2025‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.
Comments are closed for this post.