Von Der Leyen’s Call To Arms: Regular Security Talks With EU Commissioners

By Alexandra Brzozowski

(EurActiv) — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Sunday she would hold regular sessions under a new ‘Security College’ format with her 26 commissioners. 

Von der Leyen plans to use meetings with the Commission, during which politically sensitive issues typically discussed and legislative proposals adopted, to give members “a regular security update”.

The frequency of the sessions would “depend on the urgency of the situation”, she said, and not be exclusive to some commissioners but include all 26 commissioners in order to deal with security risks that could emerge in all EU policy areas.

“If we think back four years, never would I have imagined foreseeing how certain topics could be instrumentalised to drive a hybrid attack against us,” von der Leyen said during a rare encounter with the press in Brussels on Sunday.

She cited the EU’s over-reliance on Russian gas shipments to the EU, which triggered an energy crisis in parts of the bloc in the wake of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the use of migration to put pressure on Poland’s border with Belarus as examples.

Von der Leyen said those examples point to why the EU would “have to be wider in analysing threats” beyond narrow security definitions, and given how Europe’s security landscape is changing.

Trump ties

Von der Leyen avoided mentioning US President Donald Trump by name and repeatedly evaded giving a direct answer to questions from the press about the state of Europe’s relationship with Washington.

But she emphasised that it was “clear that the United States are an ally”.

Asked if the EU would need to reduce risks and dependencies in its relationship with the US, similar to what the bloc has attempted to do with China, von der Leyen replied with “a clear no”.

“It’s a completely different relationship that we have with the United States than we have with China,” she added

Von der Leyen did not say whether she would meet with Trump any time soon.

While there have been some early encounters between EU and US representatives around the Munich Security Conference, EU officials have struggled to score high-level meetings with the Trump administration.

The only senior EU official to land an appointment with their counterpart in Washington has been EU’s trade chief Maroš Šefčovič, who met with US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.

The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, hasn’t been able to manage a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio due to “scheduling issues”.

“There are contacts, but we will have a personal meeting when the time is right,” von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels.

‘Buy European’

Von der Leyen again argued that the EU needs to re-arm and rebuild military capabilities and offered a veiled rebuke to EU member states that permitted “one or two decades of under-investment”.

Von der Leyen, herself a former German defence minister, had outlined possible options for European defence spending earlier in the week.

One of the options put forward, a proposed €150 billion injection into the EU’s defence industry, has raised controversy over whether the EU’s rearmament push should include using EU funding for member states to buy equipment from countries outside the bloc.

France and Germany, in particular, stand at odds on the issue, with Paris having been staunchly opposed to buying military gear from outside countries such as the United States.

Von der Leyen acknowledged that the process would be “a gradual increase” in buying EU-produced weapons rather than an immediate change away from third-country products.

“At the moment, we spend 80% outside [the bloc] because we need it urgently and we do not have it here,” she said.

But she emphasised there would need to be consideration of how to include “like-minded partners” such as Norway and the United Kingdom in any future scheme.