Acting on defence to protect Europeans

Addressing security and defence challenges

In the first half of 2025, the Commission proposed several key initiatives to boost European defence readiness and investment:

• the White paper for European defence - Readiness 2030
• the ReArm Europe plan
• the Defence readiness omnibus simplification

These proposals are instrumental in addressing the challenges and gaps that the EU faces in security and defence. 

In October 2025, the Commission presented a Defence readiness roadmap 2030 to measure progress and discuss the next steps.

The ReArm Europe plan / Readiness 2030 will boost defence funding by giving EU countries more financial flexibility.

It will achieve this by: 

• activating the national escape clause of the Stability and Growth Pact, allowing Member States to increase defence spending. A 1.5% GDP increase in defence budgets could create nearly EUR 650 billion in fiscal space over four years.
• launching a EUR 150 billion loan instrument - Security Action for Europe (SAFE) - that will help countries invest in key defence areas like missile defence, drones, and cyber security. The funds will be raised on capital markets and disbursed to interested Member States upon demand, based on national plans. Adopted by the Council of the EU in May 2025, SAFE will encourage Member States to spend better, together and European.
• supporting the European Investment Bank Group in widening the scope of its lending to defence and security projects and accelerating the savings and investment union to mobilise private capital so that the European defence industry is not reliant on public investment alone 

Fully leveraging these financial tools will have positive effects for the EU's economy and competitiveness. This includes building new factories and production lines essential for generating good jobs in Europe.

Preserving peace - Defence readiness roadmap 2030

The roadmap for defence readiness is a comprehensive plan to strengthen European defence capabilities. It outlines clear objectives and concrete milestones to

• close capability gaps
• accelerate defence investments across Member States
• achieve full defence readiness by 2030. 

European Readiness Flagships

The roadmap proposes four flagships

• the European Drone Defence Initiative
• the Eastern Flank Watch
• the European Air Shield
• the European Space Shield

These will reinforce Europe's ability to deter and defend across land, air, sea, cyber, and space while contributing directly to NATO capability targets.

Readiness through Capability Coalitions

Full defence readiness means ensuring that national armed forces can anticipate, prepare for, and respond to any crisis, including high-intensity conflict. 

The roadmap calls on Member States to complete the Capability Coalitions in nine key areas and close critical capability gaps through joint development and procurement. These are

• air and missile defence
• strategic enablers
• military mobility
• artillery systems
• cyber, AI, and electronic warfare
• missile and ammunition
• drones and counter-drones
• ground combat
• maritime

Strengthening EU defence industrial base 

Closing capability gaps requires a strong EU defence industry that can deliver what Member States need, at the necessary scale and speed. 

Innovation in defence should be fully harnessed, including solutions coming from Ukraine. The resilience of defence supply chains also needs to be strengthened by reducing critical dependencies in raw materials and other critical inputs.

Boosting defence investment 

By 2030, the goal is to create a simplified EU defence market with common rules that enable industry to produce faster and at larger scale, driving both production and innovation. The Commission will track industrial capacity, starting with air and missile defence, drones, and space systems, to ensure Europe can meet urgent needs.

The Defence readiness roadmap follows the ReArm Europe plan / Readiness 2030, which gives Member States greater financial flexibility to strengthen production and readiness. It also plans to establish an EU-wide military mobility area by 2027, with harmonised rules and a network of land, air, and sea routes to move troops and equipment swiftly across Europe. Developed in close coordination with NATO, this initiative will improve Europe’s ability to respond quickly to crises.