The European Union is advised to strengthen European intelligence structures in a step-by-step manner with a view to creating a full-fledged European intelligence service, according to a report on EU civil and military preparedness presented by former Finnish President Sauli Niinistö.
Niinistö called for “strengthening and improving the Single Intelligence Assessment Capability (SIAC)” to achieve this goal.
The document was presented in Brussels this Wednesday. It was commissioned by European Commission (EC) chief Ursula von der Leyen. The report’s author urged:
“Strengthen the EU’s intelligence structures to gradually move towards a full-fledged EU intelligence co-operation service.”
He also said the EU should have a “structured and co-ordinated process to ensure that information needs and requests for SIAC products are met in a timely manner, including from the relevant services of the European Commission and the EU agencies under their oversight.”
Creation of an intelligence co-operation service at EU level
Niinistö’s report also puts forward the idea of developing with member states “a proposal for modalities for a fully-fledged intelligence co-operation service at EU level that can meet both strategic and operational needs in policy planning decisions” and that would not duplicate the tasks of member states’ national intelligence organisations.
Niinistö joined former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, who this year also published an EU Commission report on the bloc’s global competitiveness, and the new candidate for EU defence commissioner, Andrius Kubilius, in calling for stronger European defence co-operation to “close long-standing gaps in our military and defence industrial readiness.”
He called for better co-operation between the EU and NATO to do so, an issue that has been a source of tension as some EU initiatives to strengthen its defence have met with a cool reception in the military alliance.
Niinistö also recommended engaging with civilians and private companies to prepare for crises. One proposed initiative is to make sure EU households are “prepared for a minimum 72-hour basic self-sufficiency in various types of emergencies.”
