EU Joint Debt for Strategic Autonomy: Mitsotakis’ Bold Plan

In a bold political move, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis voiced support for joint EU debt issuance to fund military projects and strengthen European strategic autonomy. The move comes ahead of the EU leaders’ summit, amid escalating tensions with Russia and strategic influences from China and the U.S.

“My argument is very simple: if defense is the ultimate European public good, we need European structures and European funding to develop our defense capabilities,” Mitsotakis stated, emphasizing the importance of collective action for EU security.

In his interview with Politico, he noted: “There’s an elephant in the room. We don’t talk about it openly, but we could imagine a scenario where we have a common European borrowing mechanism aimed at supporting European defense projects.”

The Prime Minister stressed that joint funding could be used for shared procurement, new technology development, specialized drones, and artificial intelligence, projects difficult to achieve at the national level alone. “Let’s use European money to do things we might not be able to accomplish on our own,” he added.

Mitsotakis’ proposal aligns with the EU’s push for strategic autonomy, while the European Central Bank has already shown support for creating hard European assets, strengthening the euro and attracting Foreign Direct Investment.

At the same time, the Prime Minister sent a clear signal on environmental priorities:“The green transition cannot be an end in itself. The last 10, 15, or 20 percent is extremely expensive, and we don’t even have the technologies to truly achieve it yet.” He stressed that climate policies must balance competitiveness and social cohesion, without overburdening EU economies.

According to a draft joint statement prepared by ambassadors of the 27 EU countries, the Union will direct more investments in defense toward joint development, production, and procurement projects, paving the way for high-level European cooperation.

With this move, Mitsotakis is positioning Greece at the center of discussions on joint European defense, aiming to leverage the EU’s next phase, create opportunities for participation in high-tech strategic projects, and promote national interests.

Source: pagenews.gr