The European Union on Thursday unveiled new proposals to help its armies move faster in times of conflict and to boost cyber security, saying that Russia’s war on Ukraine is a wake-up call to bolster Europe’s defenses.
“I think it’s a wake-up call for all of us. We must reinforce our ability to defend ourselves and also to defend our values,” European Commission Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager told reporters.
The proposals aim to identify gaps in European infrastructure — such as roads, bridges, rail lines, ports or airports incapable of handling heavy or large military equipment — for priority upgrades and to ensure guaranteed access to fuel supplies right across the continent.
They would also cut red tape by developing a joint electronic administration system to reduce the time that armed forces on the move might be caught up by border formalities or customs and tax rules. Currently, armies can face waits of at least five days to move military equipment across borders for war games and other maneuvers.
The EU and NATO routinely combine forces together for military exercises but also have rapidly deployable combat brigades for use during times of conflict. U.S. military officers have long warned of the administrative and physical barriers to moving forces around Europe.
To better ward off cyberattacks — civilian facilities ranging from hospitals to shipping companies have been by targeted by hackers in recent months — the EU should ramp up civilian and military cyber cooperation and improve exchanges between national and European level defense experts, the commission said.
Cyber security standards and certificate requirements should also be bolstered, and joint funding provided to help countries invest together in more modern cyber capabilities.

More from Associated Press
- Major Massachusetts Health Insurer Hit by Ransomware Attack, Member Data May Be Compromised
- Biden Picks New NSA Head, Key to Support of Ukraine, Defense of US Elections
- White House Unveils New Efforts to Guide Federal Research of AI
- Meta Fined Record $1.3 Billion and Ordered to Stop Sending European User Data to US
- China Tells Tech Manufacturers to Stop Using Micron Chips, Stepping Up Feud With United States
- ChatGPT’s Chief Testifies Before Congress, Calls for New Agency to Regulate Artificial Intelligence
- Philadelphia Inquirer Hit by Cyberattack Causing Newspaper’s Largest Disruption in Decades
- Executive Fired From TikTok’s Chinese Owner Says Beijing Had Access to App Data in Termination Suit
Latest News
- Chrome 114 Released With 18 Security Fixes
- Organizations Warned of Backdoor Feature in Hundreds of Gigabyte Motherboards
- Breaking Enterprise Silos and Improving Protection
- Spyware Found in Google Play Apps With Over 420 Million Downloads
- Millions of WordPress Sites Patched Against Critical Jetpack Vulnerability
- Barracuda Zero-Day Exploited to Deliver Malware for Months Before Discovery
- PyPI Enforcing 2FA for All Project Maintainers to Boost Security
- Personal Information of 9 Million Individuals Stolen in MCNA Ransomware Attack
