EU security strategy gets an overhaul — but will it really be an upgrade?

The European Union’s foreign policy chief has warned that "Europe is in danger." But his new recommendations must overcome political blockades to boost the bloc's ability to defend itself.

"Europe cannot afford to be a bystander in a world order that is mainly shaped by others." This longstanding lament is a key theme in the opening paragraphs of a document updating the EU's security strategy for the next five to 10 years. Shepherded by EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Josep Borrell, it warns governments that current tactics and practices are inadequate to face an increasingly perilous future.

Named the "strategic compass," the plan promises to provide a streamlined assessment of threats and challenges and their implications, greater coherence and common sense of purpose, new ways and means to improve collective security, and

measurement of milestones to ensure progress.

"Major geopolitical shifts are challenging Europe's ability to promote its vision and defend its interests," says a November 8 draft of the document, which has now been submitted to foreign and defense ministers and seen by DW.

Borrell says he will provide at least two more drafts of the plan incorporating govern

ments' views between now and its scheduled approval at a March summit of EU leaders devoted to defense. The "more hostile security environment" requires increased capacity, resilience and willingness to act, the draft reads.

"Lack of unity, passivity, delays and poor coordination carry a real cost."

Kabul a kick in the teeth

That was painfully evident as recently as August when the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan. European militaries acknowledged then that they were unable to secure Kabul Airport even for a day without the assistance of the US, which rejected allies' requests to delay its full departure.

This humiliation fueled added interest in one of the strategic compass' most eagerly awaited recommendations: the creation by 2025 of an EU "rapid deployment capacity" consisting of up to 5,000 troops.

Borrell envisions the bloc agreeing next year on how, when and where such a force could be sent — and from 2023, beginning regular live exercises of the force.

Rapid-response force garners most reaction

Niklas Novaky, a senior research officer with the Wilfried Martens Center for European Studies in Brussels, says the rapid-reaction capability could be a step forward if it doesn't meet

the same fate as EU battlegroups, which have existed since 2007 but never been deployed.

But, Novaky notes, "We really have to wait until like next March to even see whether this proposed EU rapid deployment capacity will make it into the final document…because we know that not all EU countries are completely enthusiastic about it."

Novaky says he's disappointed that more attention is not paid to the security of supply and strategic stockpiling — "especially in the wake of the

The chaotic evacuation process at Kabul Airport, impossible to extend without American support, prompted EU governments to get more serious about military autonomy.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says an increasingly hostile world demands the stronger European security capabilities he’s proposing in the Strategic Compass.