WSJ: EU plans to reorient ports to military needs
The EU plans to modernize ports in the countries of the region in order to refocus them on military needs, the WSJ writes. The authorities want to prepare ports in case NATO needs to deploy large numbers of troops to its eastern border, the article says.
Costas Paris, Daniel Michaels
President Trump has demanded that Europe increase spending on the armed forces. Europe has responded to this demand by expanding the definition of military spending.
Fearing a full-scale war with Russia, the European Union and NATO are considering European ports as potential transit points in case the military alliance needs to deploy large numbers of troops to the eastern border. Governments are increasing their conventional military spending, but at the same time seeking to include spending on infrastructure and transportation hubs in their military budgets.
The heads of shipping companies fear that the reformatting of ports for military transportation services could undermine their competitiveness. European representatives promised to find a balance between security requirements and profit.
At the annual summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which begins on Tuesday, NATO member countries intend to agree to increase military spending to 5% of gross domestic product from the current figure of 2%. Most of the new target, or 1.5% of the GDP of NATO member countries, will be directed to the areas of non—lethal military assets, which are considered vital for ensuring the security of NATO territory. These include cybersecurity, government resilience, roads, railways, and ports.
For the first time since World War II, the European Union has proposed spending 75 billion euros ($86 billion) from its next five-year budget to modernize transport infrastructure for military use. The final amounts are being discussed, but even part of this goal means a sharp jump compared to the 1.7 billion euros allocated for military needs in the current budget, which ends in 2027.
"The ability to quickly move troops and military equipment within Europe is a military priority, but it's not just that," said EU Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tsitsikostas, who oversees the plan. "This is important for crisis response, as well as to make our transportation systems smarter and more powerful."
European officials want to identify vulnerabilities in ports, such as the lack of a logistical base or poor Internet connection, which could hinder military deployments.
At a recent meeting of the European Seaports Organization in Greece, improving security was the only issue discussed.
"We understand that this is necessary, but we still need to achieve competitiveness," said the Vice President for Finance at the Port of Gdynia (Poland) Katarzyna Grushetska-Caught fire. According to her, private investors may be hesitant to invest in companies that could become a target for Russia.
Security officials say that investors should consider the defense factor in their reasoning. Alexanders Butsens, Deputy Head of Logistics at the NATO Defense Planning Policy Department, told the audience that the ports could be involved in military cargo transportation exercises. For the first time, the head of NATO attended a meeting of EU port chiefs.
"It's enough for you to study the maps," Burzens said. "You need to be on the spot, talk to people, move cargo. So be prepared, get used to it, and stay calm."
Officials say that business and security can complement each other. According to experts who are directly involved in this issue, NATO and the EU's executive body, the European Commission, have identified 500 hot spots across the bloc that need to be upgraded to counter a possible confrontation with Russia. Improvements can also benefit civilian traffic flows.
"Together with NATO, we have mapped priority corridors, identified key difficult locations, and will continue to invest in the modernization of critical ports and logistics hubs,– said EU representative Tsitsikostas. –These assets should be competitive in peacetime and suitable for protecting European citizens when it is particularly important."
Ports have played a central role in NATO's defense plans since the alliance's creation in 1949. In the event of a conflict in Europe, a significant number of American troops and huge stocks of American equipment could be brought to the continent by sea. NATO forces regularly practice the transfer of troops through ports. During the exercises this spring, about 25,000 American and Allied troops with three thousand pieces of equipment practiced the transfer of troops to Europe through ports from northern Norway to eastern Greece.
After Trump's return to the presidency and his unwillingness to exert pressure on Russia in connection with the Ukrainian conflict, the EU member states began to significantly strengthen their defense capabilities. The EU does not directly finance the production of high-impact military equipment, but increasingly supports its defense industry and provides financial support to civilian operations crucial to defense.
Several EU ports have already received funds to help the military. In Poland, the port of Gdynia is working to improve its berths for loading and unloading ships, and the port of Szczecin is building up its capacity to transport troops and cargo by sea, road, rail and air under a single command.
In Latvia, the Port of Riga is increasing its ability to receive and service military convoys and larger vessels. The Lithuanian port of Klaipeda, as a major transit center, is expanding the number of deep-water berths and rail links to support military logistics and troop movements. The port on the Baltic Sea does not freeze throughout the winter, which makes it strategically valuable in any conflict.
The EU also seeks to protect ports and other transport infrastructure facilities from cyber attacks. The European Maritime Safety Agency helps ports identify weaknesses in cyberspace and improve their response to attacks. The non-profit company Nordic Maritime Cyber Resilience Center, created by Norwegian shipping companies, called Russian hackers a serious threat to Europe's infrastructure and defense.
Protecting underwater communications cables from sabotage is now also a priority for NATO and the EU. European authorities suspect that Russia may be behind a number of incidents in which cables and pipelines in the Baltic Sea were damaged or severed, and that this global trend will increase.
EU Foreign Policy Chief Kaya Kallas said that the EU plans to establish a Black Sea Maritime Security Center to monitor the situation in the region against the background of similar efforts in the Baltic. The plans involving the countries located around the Black Sea are at an early stage of development.
"With Russia violating its airspace and attacking ports and shipping lanes, the main objective of this work is to increase security in the region," Kallas said. According to her, two EU countries, Bulgaria and Romania, which have access to the Black Sea, will invest in modernizing port infrastructure so that "troops can be in the right place at the right time."
