The key facts

  • The plan includes a leaders' forum, an emergency response protocol modelled on NATO Article 4, and a joint military investment instrument
  • Expected participants: the 27 EU countries, as well as the United Kingdom, Norway, Ukraine and Canada
  • The idea so far has no legal basis, membership rules, budget or launch date

Brussels' new initiative

The European Commission intends to create an EU Security Council to better prepare the bloc for sabotage and external threats. In her State of the Union address, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen backed the plan as the EU's response to sabotage, cyberattacks and drone incursions from Russia. "Europe needs its own counter-hybrid playbook," she said.

Not a new idea

As Euronews notes, the idea is not new: it was put forward by French President Emmanuel Macron in 2017, and France and Germany endorsed it in a 2018 declaration.

Three components of the plan

The plan combines three proposals: a leaders' forum for developing strategy, an Emergency Security Protocol for rapid response to hybrid threats, and a Strategic Enablers Instrument for investment in joint military capabilities.

Format and relations with NATO

The Council will operate alongside NATO; it is expected to include the 27 EU countries, as well as the United Kingdom, Norway, Ukraine and Canada. The emergency response protocol, modelled on NATO Article 4, will allow a country under attack to convene a meeting of all 27 to coordinate attribution, sanctions and a diplomatic response. Brussels stresses that the plan is not a competitor to NATO, which handles collective defence.

Criticism and status

Experts and critics believe the problem lies in the lack of decision-making powers, not in meeting formats: the EU already has a Hybrid Toolbox, rapid response teams and the IPCR crisis mechanism. They warn that without a reform of the unanimity rule, the Council risks becoming yet another forum without real power. At present, the initiative has no legal basis, membership rules, voting system, budget or launch date; details are expected in the forthcoming EU Security Strategy.