{"id":455425,"date":"2026-06-01T18:22:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T16:22:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/06\/01\/kubilius-insiste-lucraina-entri-nella-futura-unione-europea-della-difesa\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T18:48:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T16:48:54","slug":"kubilius-insists-ukraine-should-join-the-future-european-defence-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/06\/01\/kubilius-insists-ukraine-should-join-the-future-european-defence-union\/","title":{"rendered":"Kubilius insists: “Ukraine should join the future European Defence Union”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 \u201cUkraine has the best military force in Europe, if not the world<\/strong>.\u201d For this reason, \u201cit would be difficult to understand why we in Europe would not regard it as in our vital interest to integrate the Ukrainian army into our continental defence architecture<\/strong>.\u201d Greater military synergy between Ukraine and the European Union is a cause that the EU Commissioner for Defence, Andrius Kubilius<\/strong>, has been championing since the start of his term, and he never fails to mention it in every public address. <\/p>\n

Today (1 June), however, these words were delivered<\/a> at an event that lends his appeal even greater significance than usual: the spring session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly<\/b><\/a>, currently taking place in Vilnius, Lithuania.<\/p>\n

Prior to today\u2019s speech, the most recent occasion on which the Lithuanian politician had emphasised the need for \u201cdeep integration\u201d of the Ukrainian defence industry with that of Europe was on 16 March<\/a>. \u201cIf even the Gulf states are asking Kyiv for help in shooting down Iranian Shahed drones, why shouldn\u2019t the EU recognise the excellence of this military expertise?<\/strong>\u201d, the Commissioner asked rhetorically at an event organised by the Forum Europa platform.<\/p>\n

Speaking today before delegates from the various national parliaments at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, Kubilius reiterated the call and set out an ambitious challenge: \u201cUkraine\u2019s accession to a future European Defence Union, led by a European Security Council<\/strong>.\u201d Proving himself to be very (perhaps overly) optimistic, the former Prime Minister of Lithuania suggested that he considers this objective something more easily achievable than \u201cKyiv\u2019s accession to NATO<\/strong>, which has not yet been agreed, and its entry into the EU<\/strong>, which may require a longer period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staying on the subject of Ukraine, Kubilius combined long-term plans with short-term ones, reiterating the need to step up NATO allies’ support for the Ukrainian army<\/strong> in its resistance to the Russian invasion.<\/p>\n

For the Commissioner, the principle he has dubbed \u201cdo not back down, but redouble your efforts<\/strong>\u201d remains the only viable option, all the more so following what he described as \u201cPutin\u2019s recent erratic attacks<\/strong>.\u201d He is referring to the incidents\u2014which have occurred several times over the past few weeks\u2014of drones crashing on the territory of certain countries on NATO and the EU\u2019s eastern flank<\/strong> (first in Latvia<\/a> and more recently in Lithuania<\/a> and Romania<\/a>). According to Kubilius, these moves are the result of the Kremlin\u2019s growing frustration. \u201cUkraine is beginning to prevail, and the more Ukraine prevails, the more nervous and desperate Putin becomes<\/strong>,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

For this reason\u2014he concludes\u2014\u201cwe must step up our support for Ukraine, so that Putin is forced to negotiate a just peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kubilius\u2019s commitment to a \u201cpost-Cold War NATO 3.0\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n

However, in addition to supporting its external allies, the North Atlantic Alliance must also focus on resolving its own domestic issues. The most urgent, according to Kubilius, is that relating to \u201cthe request from our American allies that Europe assume primary responsibility for its own collective conventional defence<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

After all, the US\u2019s gradual military withdrawal from Europe is another key challenge facing the Commissioner<\/strong>. According to Kubilius, the time has come to tackle it head-on, especially following the recent reductions in US troops in Germany<\/a> and (although subsequently denied by the White House) in Poland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For this reason, the Lithuanian politician reiterated his commitment to \u201cbuilding a post-Cold War NATO 3.0 and strengthening the European pillar of the alliance<\/strong>.\u201d In this regard\u2014he added, addressing the members of the Assembly\u2014\u201cthe contribution of national parliaments is important because Member States play a fundamental role in building this architecture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another key element in this project is the EU defence industry, which was the focus of the third point Kubilius addressed in his speech. With his baton in hand, the Commissioner lamented the fact that \u201cthe Russian military industry still produces far more than the European one, despite our companies having far more funds at their disposal than in the past<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once again, for Kubilius, the model to follow is Ukraine’s<\/strong>, which \u201chas increased production 50-fold since 2022, reaching \u20ac50 billion <\/strong>and matching the annual production levels of the German and French defence industries.\u201d The reasons for this growth are not solely linked to the war, which inevitably drives Kyiv to devote more resources to arms production. \u201cIn Ukraine,\u201d Kubilius emphasised, \u201cthere is fierce competition, well-defined market roles and dynamic innovation within the defence industry<\/strong>.\u201d Europe, on the other hand, \u201clacks a single defence market, lacks innovation and lacks sufficient industrial momentum<\/strong>,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Kubilius concludes that if European capitals are not yet ready to integrate their defence industries with Kyiv’s, they should at least draw inspiration from its economic model<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Speaking at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the European Commissioner for Defence described the Ukrainian army as “the best in Europe, if not the world.” He called for increased military support for Ukraine: “Putin is becoming increasingly nervous and desperate”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7899,"featured_media":455399,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[30809],"tags":[27336,29924,31521,30781],"class_list":["post-455425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-defence-security","tag-andrius-kubilius-en","tag-nato-en-10","tag-ukraine-in-2"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7899"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455425"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":455426,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455425\/revisions\/455426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}