EU Commission to propose dedicated defence and space investment in new fund
The Commission is expected to put forward a plan for a competitiveness fund to invest in strategic sectors and innovation as part of an upcoming proposal for the bloc's 2028-2034 budget.
"The gap to fill, after years of underinvestment and under attention to defence, is large," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote in a letter to European leaders on Wednesday.
"This is why the Commission's proposal for the next Multiannual Financial Framework will also address the need for substantial funding for defence in the years to come through a dedicated Resilience, Defence and Space window of the European Competitiveness Fund," they wrote.
EU leaders are expected to discuss defence priorities during a summit in Brussels on Thursday.
The discussion will take place a day after a NATO summit in The Hague, where alliance members committed to boosting defence spending to 5% of Gross Domestic Product.
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Spectator
29 minutes ago
- Spectator
Can Ursula von der Leyen survive ‘Pfizergate'?
Ursula von der Leyen faces the biggest test of her European Commission leadership as MEPs gather to vote on a motion of no-confidence. Today's vote, the first of its kind in 11 years, has been brought by right-wing MEPs in relation to von der Leyen's secretive negotiations with a pharmaceuticals boss during the pandemic. But while the European Commission president has tried to spin the no-confidence motion in her as 'fuelled by conspiracy theorists' – and seems set to win the vote – make no mistake: her leadership is badly damaged by this debacle, perhaps irreparably so. Economically, militarily and diplomatically, the bloc is floundering The chief complaint against von der Leyen is her alleged 'failure to ensure transparency' about a lawsuit initially filed by the New York Times. The newspaper was denied a request for records of text messages between the commission president and Dr. Albert Bourla, Pfizer's chief executive, as she sought to secure a multibillion deal for coronavirus vaccines. Von der Leyen denies any wrongdoing in what has been dubbed 'Pfizergate', and earlier this week the German dismissed the allegations as 'simply a lie'. The Commission president told MEPs in Strasbourg on Monday that: 'I was in contact with top representatives of the companies producing the vaccines that would get us out of the crisis'. But she rubbished the idea that she has anything to hide. 'There were no secrets, no hidden clauses, no obligation to buy for member states,' she said. The messages weren't released to the public because they were too banal. MEPs smelt a rat. One of them, Romanian Gheorghe Piperea, triggered the motion of no confidence that required the support of 71 of his peers. They believe that von der Leyen is guilty of a lack of transparency, but they have other reasons for wanting to see an end to her six-year reign. Sarah Knafo, the European representative of Eric Zemmour's Reconquest party, has explained that she will vote against von der Leyen because of her alleged 'interference' in recent elections in Romania and Germany. Knafo said there was also opposition to the EU's Rearm initiative, which will spend €800 billion (£670 billion) in the coming years to boost Europe's defence capabilities. Knafo can count on the support on MEPs from Marine Le Pen's National Rally. One of the most prominent is Fabrice Leggeri, who was head of the EU border agency Frontex before he won a seat in Strasbourg last year. 'This vote is not simply a gesture of opposition, it is an act of responsibility,' he declared. 'It's about saying that another path is possible, the return of politics, the return of the people, the return of reality'. The vote has very little chance of succeeding: the two biggest political groups in Strasbourg, the centre-right European People's Party and the centre-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats will certainly swing into line behind their president. So will the Greens and the centrist Renew outfit. Von der Leyen appears confident, bullishly brushing away the motion as 'being taken right from the oldest playbook of extremists'. Nonetheless, the vote is a sign of the growing unrest in the EU parliament at the leadership of von der Leyen. Economically, militarily and diplomatically, the bloc is floundering. It has an increasingly weak voice on the international stage, no matter how shrilly the likes of Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz shout from the wings. Few critics have been as vehement in their denunciation of von der Leyen over the years as Jordan Bardella, the president of the National Rally. 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But why would any country in their right mind seek closer ties to the EU when it is so dysfunctional and determined to tear itself apart?
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Macron and Starmer to meet as pair agree ‘new deterrent' needed to stop small boats
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The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Britain and France try again to tackle English Channel migrant crossings
After the bonhomie and banquets of a formal state visit, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Emmanuel Macron are turning to a topic that has stymied successive British and French governments: how to stop migrants from crossing the English Channel in small boats. At a U.K.- France summit on Thursday that caps Macron's three-day stay, senior officials from the two countries will try to seal deals on economic growth, defense cooperation and – perhaps trickiest of all – unauthorized migration. Macron and Starmer also will visit a military base and dial in to a planning meeting of the ' coalition of the willing, ' a U.K.- and France-backed plan for an international force to guarantee a future ceasefire in Ukraine. During a meeting inside 10 Downing St. on Wednesday, the two leaders agreed that tackling small boat crossings "is a shared priority that requires shared solutions, including a new deterrent to break the business model" of people-smuggling gangs, Starmer's office said. It said they would aim for 'concrete progress' on Thursday. Channel crossings are a longstanding challenge Britain receives fewer asylum-seekers than Mediterranean European countries, but sees thousands of very visible arrivals each year as migrants cross the 20-mile (32 kilometer) channel from northern France in small, overcrowded boats. About 37,000 people were detected crossing the channel in 2024, and more than 20,000 made the crossing in the first six months of 2025, up by about 50% from the same period last year. Dozens of people have died trying to reach the English coast. Britain and France agree the dangerous and unregulated crossings are a problem, but have long differed on how to address it. The U.K. wants France to do more to stop boats leaving the beaches, and has paid the Paris government hundreds of millions of pounds (dollars, euros) to increase patrols and share intelligence in an attempt to disrupt the smuggling gangs. 'We share information to a much greater extent than was the case before,' Starmer told lawmakers in the House of Commons on Wednesday. 'We've got a new specialist intelligence unit in Dunkirk and we're the first government to persuade the French to review their laws and tactics on the north coast to take more effective action.' Macron says Britain must address 'pull factors' like the perception it is easy for unauthorized migrants to find work in the U.K. Many migrants also want to reach Britain because they have friends or family there, or because they speak English. Solutions have proved elusive As far back as 2001, the two countries were discussing ways to stop migrants stowing away on trains and trucks using the tunnel under the channel. Over the following years, French authorities cleared out camps near Calais where thousands of migrants gathered before trying to reach Britain. Beefed up security sharply reduced the number of vehicle stowaways, but from about 2018 people-smugglers offered migrants a new route by sea. 'You see that pattern again and again, where smuggling gangs and migrants try to find new ways to cross from France to the U.K.,' said Mihnea Cuibus, a researcher at the University of Oxford's Migration Observatory. 'The authorities crack down on that, and then gradually you see migrants and gangs try to adapt to that. And it becomes a bit of a game of cat and mouse.' Cooperation on stopping the boats stalled after Britain's acrimonious split from the European Union in 2020, but in the past few years the countries have struck several agreements that saw the U.K. pay France to increase police and drone patrols of the coast. Britain's previous Conservative government came up with a contentious plan in 2022 to deport asylum-seekers arriving by boat to Rwanda. Critics called it unworkable and unethical, and it was scrapped by Starmer soon after he took office in July 2024. Britain hopes for a returns deal with France Starmer is staking success on closer cooperation with France and with countries further up the migrants' routes from Africa and the Middle East. British officials have been pushing for French police to intervene more forcefully to stop boats once they have left the shore, and welcomed the sight of officers slashing rubber dinghies with knives in recent days. France is also considering a U.K. proposal for a 'one-in, one-out' deal that would see France take back some migrants who reached Britain, in return for the U.K. accepting migrants seeking to join relatives in Britain. Macron said the leaders would aim for 'tangible results' on an issue that's 'a burden for our two countries.' Cuibus said irregular cross-channel migration would likely always be a challenge, but that the measures being discussed by Britain and France could make an impact, 'if they're implemented in the right way. 'But that's a big if,' he said.
