Commission takes steps to modernise European defence and improve military mobility

Building on its plans to protect peace and ramp up our continent’s defence readiness, the European Commission has unveiled a set of measures that should significantly enhance military mobility across Europe. The measures will create an EU-wide military mobility area where troops, equipment and military assets can move around quickly and smoothly.   

Simultaneously, the Commission has also presented a roadmap that will transform the EU’s defence industry by boosting disruptive innovation and supporting emerging defence players. 

To enable military movement at speed and scale, and bring us closer to a ‘military Schengen’, the measures will 

• Remove regulatory barriers, for instance, having one single permission procedure to move military devices for all 27 EU countries
• Create an emergency framework for fast-track procedures and priority access to infrastructure
• Improve readiness of transport infrastructure, by upgrading key EU military mobility corridors to civilian and military-purpose standards and identifying and protecting strategic civilian/military infrastructure with a new resilience toolbox
• Pool and share capabilities for transport and logistics
• Strengthen governance and coordination
• Deepen EU cooperation with NATO and other partners. 

At the same time, the EU has issued a roadmap to unleash disruptive innovation – new technologies that fundamentally change how things are done – and modernise Europe’s defence industry. It draws on lessons learnt from the war in Ukraine which shows how defence technologies are transforming modern warfare. 

It sets out steps to bring together the deep tech and defence communities, speed up the use of advanced technologies in military capabilities and boost Europe’s production capacity through innovation. 

The roadmap focuses on four priorities 

• supporting investment in defence companies
• accelerating the development of new technologies
• expanding access to defence capabilities
• fostering the skills needed to sustain Europe’s technological edge 

The Commission will start implementing the roadmap’s proposed actions immediately. 

The military mobility measures will be presented to the Council and European Parliament for adoption. 

How to improve military mobility in the EU

For more information 

Military mobility 

Defence Industry Transformation Roadmap 

Acting on defence to protect Europeans 

Press release:  Commission moves towards ‘Military Schengen' and transformation of defence industry