Page 18 - The European Union and the War on Ukraine

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dependence on Russia and that the EU should cut its reliance on
Russian energy by two-thirds by the end of 2022. To this end, the EU
Commission was tasked to submit a plan by mid-May on how to

diminish the use of Russian gas, oil and coal by 2027.
The EU is also upgrading the institutional and legal framework
for its defence capabilities. The Strategic Compass, as a security and

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defence guideline, was adopted by the EU council on March 21, 2022.
The objective of the Strategic Compass is to make the EU a stronger and
more capable security provider “in order to protect European citizens
and to contribute to international peace.” The document stresses the

EU’s complementarity to NATO in its activities aimed at strengthening
global and transatlantic security. To this end, for the first time, the EU
Rapid Deployment Capacity has been approved by EU member states

which allows for mobilizing up to 5,000 troops in response to crises.

Note: Currently, the EU military expenditure is over € 200 billion
which makes up 1.5% of the EU’s GDP. The € 200 billion is four times

the military expenditure of Russia and equals the military expenditure
of China. Five EU states possess nuclear weapons: France has its own
nuclear program while Belgium, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands
host US nuclear weapons as part of NATO's Nuclear Sharing Policy.

Thus, the EU has the third largest arsenal of nuclear weapons after the
United States and Russia. The European Union's combined active
military forces totals nearly 1.5 million personnel.

19 https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/54773/20220311-versailles-declaration-
en.pdf
20 https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2022/03/21/a-strategic-
compass-for-a-stronger-eu-security-and-defence-in-the-next-decade/
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