Several EU countries are taking part in a 'live' military exercise in Spain, a crucial first step towards the formation of a European rapid reaction force by 2025, the head of European diplomacy said on Tuesday.
“Today, we are writing a new chapter in European Union defence,” EU top diplomat Josep Borrell said from the Rota Naval Base in the southern region of Andalusia, where the exercise is being held.
Last year, the European Union approved the creation of a 5,000-strong rapid reaction force, with the aim of it being able to carry out interventions on its own by 2025.
“It is very important to move forward towards the creation of our rapid deployment capability,” said the former Spanish Foreign Minister. “Today we are testing it in real conditions.”
“We have to be ready to act to protect our citizens and contribute to global stability (…) And to do that, we have to train together,” Josep Borrell added.
The military exercise began on Monday and run until 22 October. It is the first EU-level military exercise to include a component under live conditions.
For years, the EU primarily engaged in Command Post Exercises, aiming to further enhance its military decision-making capacity to respond to external conflict and crisis. The focus on the EU’s structures and operating procedures offered limited practical application when it came to testing the military rapid deployment capacity.
The initiation of Live Exercises represents a transformative paradigm shift, aligning with the evolving security landscape's demands for readiness, adaptability, and versatility, according to the EU.
Some 2,800 military personnel from nine Member States – Austria, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Romania and Spain – plus 25 aircraft and six ships are taking part in the exercise, which simulates an intervention in a third country that has requested EU assistance. It will include a landing on a beach to secure a port in the fictitious country.
The creation of the European Response Force, capable of fighting in hostile terrain, was approved as part of the adoption of the EU’s 'strategic compass' in March 2022, following the start of the war in Ukraine.
At the time, EU members also pledged to substantially increase their defence spending in order to increase their capacity to act autonomously.
The existence of such a reaction force had been sorely lacking when the Europeans evacuated Kabul in August 2021.
