Against the background of the chaos at the border between Poland and Belarus the European Union has decided it should do long-term about its internal security. As a result, Brussels has prepared a "Strategic Security and Defense Compass", which contains an exemplary action plan to ensure the internal security of EU members in the long term.
The document was leaked to CNN in full.
The main proposal is that the EU obtains the capacity to rapidly deploy up to 5,000 troops to deal with numerous potential crises. Rather than a permanent force reporting to a commander in Brussels, these rapid deployment groups will be a collection of troops from across the participating member states, formed to tackle a specific task and commanded from an EU level on that mission. Those tasks could range from an evacuation mission, such as in Afghanistan, to peacekeeping on a border or humanitarian missions.
At present, the document does address the EU's deteriorating relationship with its neighbor, but also says "common interests and a shared culture in fact link the EU and Russia," and that it would still engage with "Russia in some specific issues on which we have shared priorities."
The document also talks about the need for a joined-up approach in defense procurement, research and intelligence, making the bloc more competitive and efficient. It acknowledges that to do this, national and EU spending would have to increase and focus on filling in the gaps that currently exist across the EU as a whole.
Not all 27 EU countries would be required to participate; however, deploying troops in the name of the EU would require signoff and involvement of member states, and the details of how this would work are yet to be confirmed.
However, these are early days and reaching agreement on anything costly from 27 countries who face vastly different security and fiscal concerns will be far from straightforward.