European officials vow to boost defense production, but some worry it won’t be enough

PRAGUE, Czech Republic—Europe needs a “systemic overhaul” of its defense spending to increase production and reduce its dependence on the United States, the European Commission president said Friday. 

“It will take time and massive investment to restructure our defense industries. Our aim must be to build continent-size defense output,” Ursula von der Leyen said at the GLOBSEC Security Forum here, offering few details.  

Von der Leyen also vowed to “appoint a full-fledged defense commissioner in the next commission.” 

That would be a “significant shift,” the Atlantic Council explained on Friday: “Unlike a traditional defense minister, this role will focus on enhancing coordination and procurement across the EU’s defense industry, addressing the longstanding fragmentation that has hampered Europe’s ability to respond effectively to emerging security threats.” 

Von der Leyen also said European security depends on continued and predictable support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian invaders, and that Kyiv must eventually join the EU.

“We must put Ukraine in the condition of negotiating such peace, and this is why the integration of Ukraine and our European Union is for us at the heart of every peace effort,” she said. 

But some European and Ukrainian participants in the forum said Von der Leyen wasn’t being aggressive enough. The speech, which was well received, did not suggest how Ukraine might achieve victory in its objectives, a fact that was noted in a later session by Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis. 

“We've never been afraid of the word victory, because, honestly, when you look at it, there's no other way if you want to achieve peace, achieve just peace,” said Landsbergis. 

The European Union is still missing a defined strategy for giving Ukraine the best possible chances of securing such a victory, he said. Without one, regional conflicts inflamed by Russia will surely continue at the expense of Europe. 

“We are sleepwalking into this new reality,” he said. 

This year’s GLOBSEC forum takes place amid rising cyber and hybrid warfare attacks across the continent and escalated fighting in Ukraine. 

“The last three months are the concentration of the largest human suffering and casualties since the beginning of the war,” Katarína Mathernová, the EU Ambassador to Ukraine, told the audience. 

Russia’s increasing attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector are setting the stage for another difficult winter. 

“We have blackouts every day in July in Kyiv. We had blackouts 16 to 20 hours a day and we are looking at a very dark and cold winter at the current level of destruction,” Mathernová said.

Russia is also making advances on the ground, particularly toward the key city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine. 

“If they get Pokrovsk, they're very close to Dnipro, the [country’s] fourth-largest city. So the situation is really dramatic,” she said. “I think it's important to step up the support now.”

But Ukraine, too, continues to make advances into Russian territory in the region of Kursk. 

Kyiv didn’t inform the United States of its intentions to launch an assault on Russian territory. That’s partly because of resistance from many of Ukraine’s partners to allow Ukraine to use long-range fires (given to them by other countries) to strike at Russian missile launchers that were lobbing shells into Ukraine from across the border, said Mariia Mezentseva, a member of Ukraine’s parliment and deputy chair of committee on Ukraine's integration into the European Union. 

“We were forced to create this sort of a buffer zone because we didn't receive a right to use an international weapon on time for the long-range,” said Mezentseva. 

She said the use of such weapons to strike targets in Russia was still a matter of daily negotiation with some of Ukraine’s allies. 

Mathernová said that while the Kursk offensive has yet to cause Russia to pull troops out of Donetsk, it has still been important for Ukrainians. 

“It already has boosted morale. It has changed the narrative, and it gave Ukraine important leverage,” she said, primarily in the form of hundreds of POWs. 

Panelists avoided discussion of the upcoming United States presidential election. But the prospect of a second Donald Trump presidency, which could see a massive cut in U.S. aid to Ukraine,  and even a possible United States withdrawal from NATO, cast a shadow over the discussions. Trump has said that the issue is primarily one of European nations failing to meet NATO’s defense spending guidelines. 

Landsbergis reminded the audience that Europe—the EU and beyond—spends a large and growing amount on defense.

“Honestly, the problem is of synchronization. The problem is the purchase. The problem is the standards. The problem is the usage and so many other things. So basically, we have the means, and now we just need to find a way how to use it.”