added: "We realize that our military stockpiles are rapidly depleting due to years of underinvestment".
European allies have supplied billions of dollars worth of weapons to help Kiev defend against Russian forces since the war began in February.
Moscow’s full-scale assault on its neighbor has brought attention back to the strength of EU defences, which had suffered from underspending since the end of the Cold War.
Burrell continued: "We know that we lack vital defensive capabilities. We lack the capabilities we need to defend against higher threat levels".
And the European Union foreign policy official added: "We are facing real threats, close to us and destined to intensify".
But Borrell stressed that members of the 27-nation bloc must continue to ramp up spending and ramp up their joint procurement and technology investments to make up for shortfalls.
And he said: "The choice is clear to me. We need to cooperate more. European armies need to cooperate more with each other".
added "We must continue to support Ukraine. We must continue to meet current needs and we must start preparing for the future".
There have long been calls, notably from France, to strengthen European defense capabilities and to improve coordination between EU countries’ armies.
But EU countries still rely heavily on the US to provide security on the continent under the auspices of NATO (BORN).
“>
Josep Borrell said during a defense conference in Brussels: “This war against Ukraine It was a big wake-up call for a lot of us.”
He added: “We realize that our military stockpiles are rapidly depleting due to years of underinvestment.”
European allies have supplied billions of dollars worth of weapons to help Kiev defend against Russian forces since the war began in February.
Moscow’s full-scale assault on its neighbor has brought attention back to the strength of EU defences, which had suffered from underspending since the end of the Cold War.
“We realize that we lack vital defensive capabilities. We lack the capabilities we need to defend against higher threat levels,” Burrell continued.
And the European Union foreign policy official added: “We are facing real threats, close to us, and they risk getting worse”.
But Borrell stressed that members of the 27-nation bloc must continue to ramp up spending and ramp up their joint procurement and technology investments to make up for shortfalls.
He said: “The choice is clear to me. We need to cooperate more.. European militaries need to cooperate more with each other.”
“We must continue to support Ukraine. We must continue to meet current needs and we must start preparing for the future,” he added.
There have long been calls, notably from France, to strengthen European defense capabilities and to improve coordination between EU countries’ militaries.
But EU countries still rely heavily on the US to provide security on the continent under the auspices of NATO (BORN).
