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Roberts Zīle’s keynote in Naples urges the EU to confront its military vulnerabilities with funding, coordination, and strategic will in the face of growing global threats.
In a time when the consequences of war are unfolding just beyond its borders, Europe can no longer afford to ignore the critical vulnerabilities in its military infrastructure. At the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Party conference in Naples, held from July 10–12, 2025, Roberts Zīle, Vice President of the European Parliament, delivered a stark and compelling keynote: Europe must enhance its military mobility, or risk strategic paralysis in the face of external aggression.
Zīle’s message was not one of alarmism, but of urgency grounded in hard-learned lessons from Ukraine. “The war has taught us that if troops and equipment can’t move swiftly across our continent,” Zīle warned, “then deterrence collapses before the first shot is even fired.” His call is clear: Europe must treat military mobility as a vital strategic asset — not a logistical afterthought.
The Hidden Bottlenecks of Europe’s Military Infrastructure
Zīle painted a vivid picture of the logistical and infrastructural hurdles currently undermining Europe’s defence readiness. One major obstacle is the lack of standardized infrastructure across member states. Differing railway gauges, incompatible bridge weight limits, and disjointed transport rules are not just bureaucratic nuisances — they are real-time liabilities in any coordinated military response. The incompatibility of railway systems, for instance, is more than an engineering issue. It means armoured vehicles cannot be deployed efficiently across borders; it means vital supplies risk delay; and it means that Europe’s promise of collective defense is undermined by physical and procedural fragmentation.
Zīle highlighted the need to define and invest in key military corridors across Europe — routes that must be capable of handling heavy equipment, mobile command units, and emergency support with speed and reliability. But these efforts will go nowhere, he emphasized, without standardization of rules and closer intergovernmental coordination.
Funding Shortfalls and Strategic Blindness
Europe’s investment in military mobility remains dismally insufficient. Zīle pointed to the limited scope of the Connecting Europe Facility, the EU’s primary infrastructure funding mechanism, which fails to prioritize dual-use military transport. While programs like the European Peace Facility offer some financial support, Zīle underscored the structural difficulty faced by many member states: they are simply unable or unwilling to increase contributions amid tight budgets and political constraints.
Here, Zīle proposed two solutions. First, the EU must restructure its budget priorities to explicitly support defence readiness. Second, national governments must recognize military mobility as part of their own strategic infrastructure — deserving of the same attention and urgency as civilian transport, energy, or digital connectivity. He also called for procedural reforms that would speed up cross-border deployments, emphasizing that military trucks stuck in customs queues at European borders — a reality even within the Schengen Area — is “a disgrace in the 21st century.”
Closing the Industrial Gap: A Crisis of Confidence
Beyond infrastructure lies an equally urgent concern: Europe’s defence production capacity. Zīle identified several critical shortfalls in military hardware production — from railway rolling stock to mobile bridges and dual-engine vehicles. “This is a classic chicken-and-egg scenario,” he explained. “Industry will not ramp up production without contracts, and militaries cannot place contracts without production in place.”
What’s needed, he argued, is public sector leadership through long-term procurement guarantees. Governments must provide incentives, reduce regulatory uncertainty, and de-risk the investment environment for defence manufacturers. Otherwise, Europe will remain dependent on external suppliers in times of crisis — a vulnerability that should be intolerable in today’s geopolitical climate.
Toward a New Strategic Culture in Europe
But perhaps the most profound part of Zīle’s keynote was not about railways, budgets, or machinery — it was about mindset. “Europe has been living in a different world,” he said, “a world where peace was taken for granted and threats seemed remote. That world is gone.”
Zīle called for a fundamental shift in how Europe views its security obligations. Defence and mobility should no longer be seen as burdens, but as pillars of sovereignty and strategic autonomy. He urged the European Parliament and national leaders to move beyond abstract strategy and begin implementing tangible, actionable defence plans. The challenge, as he sees it, is not technical but political. It is the will to act — to break through complacency, to treat security as non-negotiable, and to prepare not only for today’s threats, but for tomorrow’s uncertainties.
The Mediterranean’s Strategic Future — and Europe’s
Speaking from Naples, a historic gateway between Europe and its southern neighbours, Zīle made it clear that the Mediterranean is not just a geographic frontier — it is a testing ground for Europe’s strategic maturity. From North African instability to Russian naval ambitions, the region underscores the importance of rapid deployment and resilient infrastructure. The Mediterranean, he implied, is shaping Europe’s future — but only if Europe decides to shape its own.
Security Cannot Wait
Roberts Zīle’s keynote was not simply a policy address; it was a call to arms — figuratively and, if necessary, literally. Europe must shake off decades of inertia and invest in its own capacity to defend, deter, and respond. Military mobility is not a luxury — it is the sinew that binds a collective defence. Without it, Europe’s unity is a paper shield. Whether the EU responds with the urgency and coherence Zīle demanded remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: time is running out, and security can no longer wait.
Alessandro Fiorentino