Safer Together

After E. Letta’s report on the future of the Single Market and M. Draghi’s report on European competitiveness, the Niinistö report on strengthening Europe's civilian and military preparedness and readiness is now available.

Former Finnish President Sauli Niinistö has delivered a report commissioned by the European Union on how the crisis resilience of European societies can be improved. It concerns EU as well as national strategies, initiatives and policies across sectors, including the civil protection, defence industry, hybrid threats, critical infrastructure, cyber security, disinformation, space, military mobility, maritime security, health and food security, economic security, etc.

According to the report: „A prerequisite for preparedness is to understand that security is the foundation of everything we hold dear. Security is a public good – the most important thing that everyone needs. It is the precondition for maintaining our values, as well as being a necessity for our economic success and competitiveness. Threats don't stop at our borders, they cascade between the interconnected sectors of our economy," said Niinistö, adding that "if we are not doing all we can for our own security, we cannot expect others to do it for us."

Niinistö's report argues that the EU must signal to the US that it is prepared to pay its own way on military and civil preparedness. He called on the EU to earmark one-fifth of its budget, currently worth some one trillion euros over seven years, on security and crisis preparedness. He also urged closer cooperation between the EU and NATO. Since Sweden's accession last spring, only four EU member states remain outside the alliance: Austria, Cyprus, Ireland and Malta. All but Cyprus are members of NATO's Partnership for Peace.

First of all, according to Niinistö, the EU must acknowledge its own weaknesses and then prepare for future threats with determination. The most serious gaps, particularly evident in our current security, according to the report are:

• We do not have a clear plan on what the EU will do in the event of armed aggression against a Member State. The threat of war posed by Russia to European security forces us to address this as a centrepiece of our preparedness, without undermining the work to prepare for other major threats. This includes those connected to disruptions to the global economy, disasters driven by climate change, or another pandemic;

• We do not have comprehensive capacity to bring all necessary EU resources together in a coordinated manner across institutional and operational silos to prepare for – and if needed, act – in response to major cross-sectoral and cross-border shocks and crises.

According to Niinistö, after decoding the crises of today and anticipating the threats of tomorrow, it is crucial to enable the EU to function under all circumstances. Apart from that, the report brings a series of concrete recommendations to ensure speed of action with structures and procedures that are fit for purpose, and to empower citizens as the backbone of societal resilience and preparedness.

In his report, Niinistö pays increased attention to leveraging the full potential of public-private cooperation, outsmarting malicious actors to deter hybrid attacks and to scaling up Europe’s defence efforts and unlocking its dual-use potential. He offers specific recommendations also in the area of building mutual resilience with partners through assertive EU diplomacy and harnessing the economics of preparedness by investing together upfront.

With reference to the findings of Draghi‘s report, Niinistö states: „The link between competitiveness and security works both ways, and is of particular importance taking into account that the EU’s share of the world economy and its population are shrinking. Only a Europe that is competitive economically is able to keep itself secure and influence global developments, rather than merely adapting to them, and to provide the best environment for businesses to grow and succeed.“