European Commission to propose EU-wide mechanism to pool member states' defence orders

Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday announced that the bloc's plan to boost its defence will include a joint Task Force with Ukraine to coordinate military support to the war-torn country and a European Military Sales Mechanism aimed at strengthening the European defence industrial base.

The European Commission chief said the two new instruments will be part of the highly-anticipated White Paper for Defence that will be released on Wednesday and which is meant to outline the EU's priorities for defence investments and how to finance them.

The White Paper, which von der Leyen dubbed “a roadmap for 'Readiness 2030'," will outline four priorities including increasing support for Ukraine and strengthening Europe’s defence industrial base.

On Ukraine, "there is a lot more that we can do," von der Leyen told the cadets at the Royal Danish Military Academy in Copenhagen.

"To help make this a reality, we will set up a joint Task Force with Ukraine to coordinate the EU’s and member states military support to Ukraine. But Ukraine can support us too. In fact, there is a lot that we can learn from the transformation of Ukraine’s defence industry," she added.

Ukraine's ramp-up in defence production can be "a blueprint for Europe", von der Leyen also said, calling for Ukraine's integration in the European defence equipment market to be sped up.

On the industrial side, she highlighted that European defence companies cannot produce the equipment in the quantities and speed member states need them at, due in part to the overall market in Europe being "too fragmented".

"We really need to turn the tide. It starts with investment in Europe. As we all know, today the majority of defence investment goes outside Europe. In other words: good jobs outside