Good morning, 

Happy to see you again.

Well, today it is Defence. Yesterday, it was Foreign Affairs [Council]. Today, we are going to discuss about the situation on the military side of these troubled times.

It is my 123rd Council and we are in a moment in which it is 1,000 days since the [Russian] war [of aggression] against Ukraine started.

As I said yesterday, maybe we should take into account the war that started when Russia invaded Crimea. Then, we would be talking about 4,000 days of war. 

The full-scale, the full invasion, is 1,000 days [long]. Something that, for sure, Putin could not imagine. He was planning a two weeks’ war to be in Kyiv quickly, and change “the regime” in Ukraine. 1,000 days later, Ukrainians still resist, with a lot of success in the battlefield. A lot of efforts, a lot of casualties from both sides, and a lot of support from the European Union.

Today, we are going to discuss with the Defence Ministers about how we continue supporting Ukraine.

We will have with us the new Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), [Mark Rutte]. Together with NATO, the Ministers of Defence will have an overview of the situation in the battlefield and our supplies to Ukraine. 

Since it is my last Council, allow me to have a look at what has happened during these last five years. I think that on defence, we did a lot. We will still have to do more but we did quite a [big] number of important things.

We launched the European Peace Facility, and, thanks to this instrument, we were able to provide military support to Ukraine, for the first time. 

We launched the Strategic Compass, which is at the end a kind of white book on European Defence, where all Member States agreed on how we can contribute to European Defence and how to increase our military capacities together.

I want to use this opportunity to explain clearly that the Strategic Compass described European Defence not only as producing ammunition. It is very important to have an industrial capacity; without an industrial capacity, you cannot have a defence. But it is not for the Europeans to produce ammunition, and for NATO to organise the defence of Europe.  Europeans have to have their own responsibilities.

Europeans have to organise their defence, certainly, inside NATO, but building their own strategic capacities. This is the message of the Strategic Compass, approved by all Member States. 

NATO is the framework for the territorial defence of Europe. [There is] no doubt about it, but Europeans have to engage on defence – much more than just being a factory, much more than just producing arms. They have their strategic responsibilities too. As Europeans, we have to build the European pillar inside NATO.

We launched an unprecedented level of support to a country at war, through the European Peace Facility, and through [the support provided by] Member States. 

We have increased our defence capacity.

Today, the military expenditure of the European [Union] Member [States] is 30% more than at the beginning of the war. One third more. In the last year, it has been increasing very much, because once you start producing, it is a process that continues increasing. 

We have to do it, because the Ukrainians need our support. The figure, [expected for this] year, of military expenditure [will] reach [€]326 billion. 

We will discuss that at the European Defence Agency Board. Today, it is the Foreign Affairs Council in its Defence format. But [it should] also [be said that] the Board of the European Defence Agency is doing an incredible job, analysing where the capacities of the European armies are, how can we make them to work together, how to avoid duplications, [and] how can we fill the gaps. This work has been done silently during the last years, and this represents the best contribution to the analysis of the European Defence capacities. 

I said we will have here the Secretary General of NATO in order to work together in our common defence. 

We launched the most ambitious training mission ever, [EUMAM Ukraine]. We have trained more than 65.000 Ukrainian soldiers. You know, sending a soldier to the battlefield without the adequate training is to send him to die. 

They need training. They need the training that makes a soldier able to use modern warfare. All over Europe the Europeans have been training the Ukrainian soldiers. 

We have launched two military missions with a global perspective: in the Red Sea, [with] ASPIDES; in the Mediterranean, [with] IRINI – apart from other missions, which [have] regional impact, like for example in Mozambique.

All in all, I think that Europeans have been building better capacities, stronger capacities, to face the challenges of this world. And they have to continue doing so. They have to continue increasing their capacities because our capacities are not the ones we need in order to face the [Russian] war [of aggression] in Ukraine, and the instability in many of the countries around us. Europeans have to understand that the military expenditure today is something that they need, they have to privilege [it] and they have to invest on it.

How much do we spend on defence? The last figures say that we are, all together, almost at the 2% target. We are at 1.9% [of GDP expenditure]. I mean all together – certainly, there are big differences. 

Some Member States are above 4%. Others are still bellow 1.5%. These efforts have to be coordinated. These efforts have to be done together. To spend together is the best way of saving money for the Europeans – and at the same time to increase their capacity of defence. 

I have been also in charge of that. Not only diplomacy, also pushing, explaining why the Europeans need to rearm: because we live in a challenging world, and we need to have capacities to defend our interests and our values.

Keep in mind that the European Union is not just an economic union, it is a political union. It has political responsibilities, also in the field of defence, as part of NATO – but with our own capacity, with our own will. Without it, we will not be able to face the challenges of the world.

Q&A.

Q. If the United States cut off support for Ukraine, will this be enough not just to protect Ukraine but also to keep Europe safe? 

Europeans cannot be on a reactive mode. They cannot sit and wait [for] what Americans are going to do and then react. Allow me to answer your question: we cannot be waiting for Trump to decide. Our support to Ukraine has to continue. We will see what is happening, we do not know what is going to happen. But for the time being, for today, and tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, people are fighting and dying in the battlefield. They are not speculating. They are risking their lives. So, today, and tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, what we have to do is to continue supporting them. And then we will see what is happening. 

Q. How disappointed are you that you did not manage to facilitate a common position of the European Union countries when it comes to the use of long-range weapons in Russia?

Well, the United States took an important decision yesterday, that I certainly applaud. After long discussions, President Biden authorised the use of long-range weapons [up to] 300 kilometres inside the Russian territory. That is very good news for the Ukrainians, they have been asking for that.  Now, the United States has granted this permission. In Europe, it is the national competence. Some Member States are already doing that, openly, and others they are doing it without saying it. Others, yesterday, they said nothing – but I am sure they will follow the example of the United States, to allow the Ukrainians to use their arms to fight against Russians inside Russian territory.  It is from the Russian territory from where they are being attacked. [This proposal] is fully in accordance with international law. So, I think that, today, we will discuss about it. I hope that all Member States will follow the United States’ decision. 

Q. How long will it take to follow the United States’ decision?

I do not know. Let’s see the discussion today.

Q. You mention that today will be the last day for you at the Council meeting, can you tell us your good memories and bad memories?

What will remain in my memory was one day, at 6 o’clock in the morning, when the phone rang and a voice told me: “they are bombing Kyiv”. With this short sentence, “they are bombing Kyiv”, at 6 o’clock in the morning, a new era of our history opened.

Q. High Representative, [and the] good?

Well, in the matter of defence, you do not have very good memories. Maybe, when I was able to provide to a group of young Afghan women the possibility of being accepted inside the European Union and start a new life, escaping the Taliban’s regime and starting a new life inside the European Union – thanks to the efforts of my services, who took them and sent them to a European State. The idea that these young ladies were going to escape and start living in freedom, as you, [that] was a good day. 

Q. Could you tell us if you are afraid that after 1,000 days of war in Ukraine the war will spill to other countries, like Poland?

Look, this war affects everybody, not only the Ukrainians, not only the Europeans; it is a war with geopolitical consequences.  No one can escape to the consequences of this war, either because there is an energy crisis, a food crisis, or just people being killed – on one side or the other.  It has changed the world. It started a new era. So, let’s face the current circumstances and make all the Member States unite in support to Ukraine.

Thank you. 

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-264208