UA-EU Military Cooperation

ALEXEY UVAROV
Sept. 10, 2023, 4:46 p.m.
Security

Despite the existence of such plans, the European Union did not become a significant military-political player in the first decades of its existence. Yes, there were some plans and even treaties between individual countries on military alliance (the idea of a "European Military Community" in 1952). Nevertheless, during the Cold War, NATO became the main military-political structure in Europe, actually replacing similar European structures. Despite this, some initiatives were taken in the 1980s and 1990s: For example, European structures participated in the deployment of peacekeeping operations in the former Yugoslavia (more organizationally and financially).

The topic of joint military organization was raised again at the Lisbon summit in 2007. The Lisbon Treaty established the next important stage in the institutional development of the European Union: based on the Treaty, a Common Security and Defense Policy was established. The Agreement also contained a provision for mutual assistance in the event of military aggression against any of the EU members. At the same time, several factors did not contribute to the further development of the organization, including:

  • Existence of an alternative defense infrastructure (NATO);
  • Lack of mutual understanding between the EU member states (especially on the part of the UK);
  • Lack of clear military threats that the EU had to confront;
  • The need for a large-scale military reorganization of national armies for their subsequent integration into a single structure.

It cannot be said that there has been no "military" work in the EU in the last twenty years. Already in the late 1990s, the EU established separate structures to develop "military" activities, such as:

  • Finabel (European Army Interoperability Centre);
  • EUROGENDFOR (European Gendarmerie Force);
  • EUROCORPS (rapid reaction forces of the armed forces of the States of the European Union);
  • EU Battlegroup (military unit adhering to the Common Security and Defence Policy of the European Union);
  • EUROMARFOR (European Maritime Force).

At the same time, in its foreign policy activities, the EU relied more on economic and diplomatic instruments, without seeking much to increase its "military" weight in the international arena. In this sense, the EU's interaction with Ukraine was initially based more on economic and institutional than military grounds. However, the power component in the interaction between the EU and Ukraine has been present since 2015.

At that time, the EU Civilian Mission was deployed in Ukraine to help the country implement the necessary reforms, including in the judiciary and law enforcement agencies. During 2015-2023, many initiatives aimed at improving the qualifications of Ukrainian police officers were carried out. Training events were held with the support of European structures such as EUROGENDFOR.

The following agreements were the main documents that defined the cooperation between the EU and Ukraine in the military sphere:

  • Association Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, on the one hand, and Ukraine, on the other hand;
  • Administrative Agreement between the European Defense Agency and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine dated 07.12.2015;
  • Separate agreements between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Secretariat of the EU Council (in the field of Common Security and Defense Policy) for one year;
  • Action plans for international cooperation between the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Until 2022, other security bodies of the European Union also carried out separate work in cooperation with Ukrainian security agencies. For example, individual servicemen were on duty in the zone of the European peacekeeping operation in Bosnia-Herzegovina (EUFOR ALTHEA program).

In addition, financial assistance for Ukraine's security needs was provided through the European Peace Facility, established in 2021. Before the full-scale invasion, this was primarily for protective equipment and non-lethal weapons. So, in the decision of the European Council in December 2021 on military assistance to Ukraine, it was about:

  • military-medical units (including field hospitals);
  • engineering units (including demining);
  • mobility and logistics units; and
  • cyber defense units.

The total financial volume of assistance at that time was EUR 31 million.

Shortly after February 2022, many European countries began to revise existing security strategies to increase military readiness. In addition to diplomatic support (in the form of sanctions against Russia), and humanitarian and economic aid, the EU has played and is playing a role in supporting Ukraine militarily. By the spring of 2023, the European Peace Facility provided Ukraine with 8 assistance measures for EUR 4.6 billion in lethal and non-lethal equipment.

In February 2022, a few days before the start of a full-scale invasion, the EU discussed the possibility of helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian cyberattacks that disrupted the country's state structures. The European Cyber Emergency Response Team (CERT) was deployed to support Ukraine in March-April 2022. This unit was previously established under the European framework of the Permanent Structured Defense Cooperation (PESCO), launched in 2017. 

In October 2022, a large-scale training program for AFU soldiers was rolled out with the support of the EU. The EU has previously organized similar initiatives:

The scope of the task assigned to the European military in 2022 was more serious, while the timeline was tighter. Nevertheless, the mission was an important step toward raising the EU's profile as a military actor and European countries' efforts to support Ukraine and strengthen its security on a common basis.

In addition, in March 2023, the European Defense Agency (EDA) signed an agreement to jointly procure artillery shells for Ukraine as part of an effort to accelerate and increase the supply of ammunition. The participating countries agreed that the implementation of the project would enable both to replenish the national stocks of the member states and to provide assistance to Ukraine.

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Earlier, back in 2008, Ukraine declared its intention to participate in the EUROCORPS project, but such attempts were not considered by the EU at that time. It seems that due to the EU's current involvement in Ukrainian defense and Ukraine's status as an EU candidate, the integration of the Ukrainian Armed Forces into European security systems will continue. At the same time, the European security structure is currently transforming. The question of what place in it will be occupied by national, European, and NATO structures is still open.

Given the heightened attention to the topic of security in the EU since the beginning of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, it is to be expected that the demand for maintaining joint security bodies will be high during and after the active phase of the war. The processes of building their armed forces have been going on with mixed success since the early 2000s in the EU. However, the large-scale war in Europe has seriously changed the attitude of many member states toward the importance of joint defense. There is no doubt that spending on defense budgets will increase, while the integration of European armies among themselves will intensify.

At the same time, Ukraine's parallel bid to join both the EU and NATO raises the question of how exactly these two structures will interact and how this cooperation will be structured. One thing is certain - the longer the bloody war in Ukraine continues, the greater the motivation of European countries to make efforts to strengthen their security. And no European army alone is capable of confronting Russia (and the EU has other potential adversaries besides Russia). Therefore, the presence of the Ukrainian army in the European armed forces, as well as the development of the EU armed forces themselves, will be a serious trump card in the future foreign policy activities of the European Union.