Common training effort
When it comes to EU decision-making, van der Laan points to the European Union Military Assistance Mission Ukraine (EUMAM) as an example where the EU has been able to act decisively.
With 32,000 troops now trained, the goal remains to reach 40,000 Ukrainian soldiers trained next year. “This is a good example where things moved quickly. There was very fast political decision-making,” van der Laan says. Poland and Germany offered headquarters and other Member States have contributed. It’s a common effort.”
Van der Laan underlines that there are other military training efforts for Ukraine taking place in countries such as Spain, Italy, France, and that they are directly reporting to the Military Planning and Conduct Capability.
How does he judge EUMAM’s success? Van der Laan is sanguine. “European Union trainers are never going to go to the frontline in Ukraine to examine whether Ukrainian soldiers are correctly putting into practice what they have learned. But the feedback from the general staff in Kyiv is positive”, he says.
In from the cold - and out again
Was he surprised by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? As a young soldier who started his career in the final years of the Cold War, van der Laan says he remembers the fall of the Berlin Wall and the positive surprise he felt then. Three decades later, he says it was more a sense of shock at the Russian invasion of February 2022. “In the months before, many people saw it coming, but no-one knew for sure. I don’t think everyone can say they expected that the Russians would actually invade Ukraine.”
Russia’s potential to be a long-term adversary, instability in the wider neighbourhood and the EU’s role in the world mean that there are many demands on Member States. A general such as van der Laan must be able to staff and run missions and operations, ensure the EU has the right capabilities, support Ukraine and be ready for the next crisis. And that’s just for the EU.
“There is that old mantra that ‘we only have a single set of forces’,” he says. “Member States will always try to develop capabilities they can use for NATO’s collective defence and make limited contributions to, say, the Rapid Deployment Capacity.”
So is some kind of European Defence Union realistic? To that question, van der Laan has two phrases: industrial capacity and political vision.
“If we want to collaborate on defence, to compensate what Member States donated to Ukraine and to have new and more capabilities – and NATO says we should – and we want to have spare parts too, and a certain level of troop readiness, we cannot do this without industry,” van der Laan says.
Of course it is a bit of a ‘chicken-and-egg’ scenario, he says. Who goes first? Industry or governments with firm orders? “I think what’s clear is that overall, we should be doing more. I think we are still working with a peacetime approach.”
Dutch-German inspiration?
And lastly, to political vision in EU defence. “I think that most European armed forces would like to do as much as possible together. But to do so, you need political will, a high level of trust, a firm legal basis, goals, and the willingness of industry.
For inspiration, Van der Laan points to his early involvement in the German-Netherlands Corps.
Since 1995, the two armed forces have been working together. As of March 2023, the two countries have three integrated divisions. Firstly, in 2014, the Dutch 11 Airmobile Brigade integrated with the German Division Schnelle Kräfte. Two years later, the 43 Mechanised Brigade was combined with the German 1st Panzerdivision. In 2023, the Dutch 13 Light Armoured Brigade and the German 10th Panzerdivision completed their integration.
“So, I think the Dutch-German example shows that the EU has huge potential to do more together,” van der Laan says. “But you need all the elements. All of this is something we have to work on.”
European Union Military Staff at a glance
- EUMS was established in 2001
- EUMS acts under the direction of the EU Military Committee (EUMC)
- EUMS oversees EU operations from Bosnia to the Indian Ocean
Military Planning and Conduct Capability at a glance
- MPCC was established in 2017
- MPCC is the headquarters of EU military training missions
- MPCC oversees a clearing house cell, channeling military aid to Ukraine