EUobserver takes a deep dive into the workings and new chairs of every single European Parliament committee for the new 2024-2029 session, in a series of articles first published in our print magazine of October 2024
The EU needs to create a joint defensive military force to adapt to an ever-more dangerous neighbourhood, with new wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
"When you compare the geopolitical situation today to the one after the last European election – we live in a different world," said the chair of the security and defence sub-committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann.
"The situation today requires more competences in the security and defence committee, so that we can work towards a European Defence Union, which should be our long-term goal," the 63-year-old German liberal MEP said.
"I hope that in five years, we will not only work together in this great European Union to make the lives of its 450 million inhabitants better and easier, but we will also protect them together — as a strong European pillar within Nato," she added.
Russia fully invaded Ukraine in 2022 and fresh wars in Gaza and Lebanon in 2023 and 2024 have changed the security landscape to the south.
Russia has also launched cyberattacks, sabotage attacks, and election-interference operations against EU countries.
And the 29-member SEDE subcommittee will help oversee EU counter-hybrid warfare actions, military assistance to Ukraine, and investment in Europe's military-industrial compound.
Meanwhile, France, Germany, and Italy have been pushing for years to create a joint European rapid-reaction force, as a first step toward a joint EU army, but Poland and Baltic states are wary of doing anything to replace the US-led Nato alliance.
"This is not something that can be done easily, because defence policy is a core competence of the member states," Strack-Zimmermann said.
"I am confident that we will make our continent safer and advance Europe's defence capabilities in the coming years despite our different geographical situations and views of the conflicts in the world," she added.
And the fact the EU now had a dedicated commissioner for defence boded well for future action, the MEP said.
"I am assuming that the European Union will continue to focus much more on security and defence — increase their efforts even, given that for the first time, we will have a commissioner responsible for security and defence," she said.
The Sede coordinators are: Nicolás Pascual de la Parte (EPP, Spain), Sven Mikser (S&D, Estonia), Pierre-Romain Thionnet (PfE, France), Reinis Pozņaks (ECR, Latvia), Nathalie Loiseau (Renew, France), Mārtiņš Staķis (Greens, Latvia), Marc Botenga (The Left, Belgium), and Hans Neuhoff (ESN, Germany)
*The subcommittee on Security and Defence has been transformed into a fully-fledged committee, comprising 43 members
Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.
Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.