JOINT WHITE PAPER for European Defence Readiness 2030

EUROPEAN COMMISSION JOINT WHITE PAPER for European Defence Readiness 2030 HIGH REPRESENTATIVE OF THE UNION FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND SECURITY POLICY Brussels, 19.3.2025 JOIN(2025) 120 final EN EN 1. INTRODUCTION Europe faces an acute and growing threat. The only way we can ensure peace is to have the readiness to deter those who would do us harm. We have many strong foundations such as our potential to unleash vast resources and latent technological and industrial power. But we are also starting from a position in which our defence readiness has been weakened by decades of under-investment. Our continent is currently being affected by war, aggression and other hostile acts. The European Union has immense wealth and productive power and a deep faith in the importance of democratic values shared across all Member States. But it is being coerced by external actors who are mobilising their resources and using technology more effectively to achieve their objectives. They are directly threatening our way of life and our ability to choose our own future through democratic processes. They believe that we are politically unable to summon a meaningful and strategically enduring response. The international order is undergoing changes of a magnitude not seen since 1945. These changes are particularly profound in Europe because of its central role in the major geopolitical challenges of the last century. The political equilibrium that emerged from the end...