The European Commission launched on Wednesday (28 March) a plan to improve military mobility between member states, as part of a wider effort to step up its defence capacities.
The debate over Europe's ability to project troops on and across its territory was launched by the US and Nato in 2014 after Russia's invasion of Crimea.
"We must be able to quickly deploy troops," EU transport commissioner Violeta Bulc said at a press conference, adding that the plan was "one of very practical steps towards a fully-fledged defence union by 2025."
"I really hope this will never happen," she said about the need to move troops across Europe in response to a threat.
"But I don't want to be surprised," she added. "We try to ensure that in case things need to be activated, we can do it."
Under the plan, the commission, the member states and the European Defence Agency will define the military requirements, including the definition of infrastructure needed, and identify how they fit with current regulations.
The aim is to be able, by the end of next year, to draw up a list of "dual-use" projects to improve infrastructure that could used both for civilian and military transport.
A pilot analysis conducted last year showed that standards for road bridges or railroads were different between member states. Some bridges, for example, could not support oversized or over-weighted military vehicles, and some rails had an insufficient loading capacity.
The effort to update infrastructures for military will be part of an ongoing plan to create nine east-west and north-south 'core network corridors' to be completed by 2030.
Bulc noted that while €500bn was needed to complete the corridors, additional costs to adapt them to the military requirements will depend on the needs still to be identified.
Read more: EU plan to improve army logistics across Europe
The debate over Europe's ability to project troops on and across its territory was launched by the US and Nato in 2014 after Russia's invasion of Crimea.
"We must be able to quickly deploy troops," EU transport commissioner Violeta Bulc said at a press conference, adding that the plan was "one of very practical steps towards a fully-fledged defence union by 2025."
"I really hope this will never happen," she said about the need to move troops across Europe in response to a threat.
"But I don't want to be surprised," she added. "We try to ensure that in case things need to be activated, we can do it."
Under the plan, the commission, the member states and the European Defence Agency will define the military requirements, including the definition of infrastructure needed, and identify how they fit with current regulations.
The aim is to be able, by the end of next year, to draw up a list of "dual-use" projects to improve infrastructure that could used both for civilian and military transport.
A pilot analysis conducted last year showed that standards for road bridges or railroads were different between member states. Some bridges, for example, could not support oversized or over-weighted military vehicles, and some rails had an insufficient loading capacity.
The effort to update infrastructures for military will be part of an ongoing plan to create nine east-west and north-south 'core network corridors' to be completed by 2030.
Bulc noted that while €500bn was needed to complete the corridors, additional costs to adapt them to the military requirements will depend on the needs still to be identified.
Read more: EU plan to improve army logistics across Europe
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