Defence and competitiveness central in next EU Strategic Agenda to be adopted by leaders

leaders from the 27 member states will gather in Brussels next week to finalise and adopt the Strategic Agenda.

Transcript

00:00The response to the war in Ukraine has had a major impact on shaping the EU's strategic

00:05agenda, a political roadmap that the next Commission must follow until 2029, designed

00:11by the European Council. As an analyst weighing on it, the Union has said it will not give

00:17up on the Green Deal and the digital agenda, but there is a shift in focus towards security

00:22and autonomy.

00:24Now the green transition, green policies are taking another spin in Europe. They are put

00:30at the service of competitiveness on the one hand and security on the other, which makes

00:36sense because over the last five years we have done a lot of legislation with the European

00:41Green Deal and now we need to turn into implementation.

00:44A strong and secure Europe and a prosperous and competitive Europe are the main drivers

00:50of the agenda. It will be materialised by greater industrial capacity in civil and military

00:56terms also to reduce dependence on the USA.

00:59There is another element which is very important here, which is of course the US election and

01:05what happens if Trump is back at the White House and what happens to Europe in terms

01:10of its own defence capabilities in case of a, let's say, withdrawal or less support by

01:18the United States also in the context of NATO.

01:22Analysts agree that the willpower of the 27 EU leaders for this remain unquestioned, but

01:27what about the money needed to make it a reality?

01:31First of all, we need to use the European budget in a better way. So there is the whole

01:36discussion about how is the new EU budget going to look like, how are we going to spend

01:40this money and what is going to be the size of it. The second is the European Investment

01:45Bank which will certainly play a greater role in the coming years when it comes to

01:49all these elements. And finally, new debt. Is there the possibility to create a new facility

01:56after the end of Next Generation EU in 2026?

01:59The agenda also includes a chapter called Free and Democratic Europe to strengthen the

02:05rule of law. The adoption of the agenda will take place during the next EU summit on June

02:0927th and 28th in Brussels.