The European Union flags in front of EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Photo: Xinhua

The European Parliament last week approved the nomination of former Lithuanian prime minister Andrius Kubilius as the EU's first-ever commissioner for defense and space. He will officially take office on December 1.

Against the backdrop of multiple internal and external crises in the EU, the creation of this new post reflects the new European Commission's political ambition in the field of defense integration and participation in the global space governance competition.

Judging from the external dimension, the defense sector is key to the EU's ability to truly achieve strategic autonomy. Meanwhile, space, as one of the future key arenas of competition among major countries, involves the power to make security rules in the time to come as well as considerable economic and social benefits. 
One of the priorities of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's second term is to promote the integration of the European defense industry and to seek the creation of a single market for defense. 

The EU's defense and space commissioner will, therefore, focus on integrating the fragmentation of the defense industry in the EU member states and improving the competitiveness of the bloc's defense through the creation of an alliance for the defense industry's development.

Prior to this, the greatest security and defense cooperation achievement reached within the EU was the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), which was initiated in 2017, driven by the 2014 Crimean crisis and the degradation of security cooperation with the US. 

However, this mechanism only served as a product of intergovernmental cooperation, providing a framework for dialogue and consultation among EU member states in three main areas - strengthening the integration of defense policy planning, collective response to external crises and joint military operations. 

In the space sector, Europe's funding for the space program is fragmented and underinvested, currently at only 20 percent of the US level. This has resulted in the EU finding itself in an asymmetric position to compete with the US as well as China in this area. Such a status quo became another external impetus that inspired von der Leyen to create a commissioner for defense and space.

Opposition from intergovernmentalists is the first challenge the commissioner faces. As a high-level political issue, defense cooperation involves not only sovereign independence but also the interests of national defense industries of each country. 

This special nature prevents it from receiving the same widespread support as the consensus reached in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) during the beginning phase of Europe's integration. The integration of the defense industry market will mean that the military industries of those member states that are in a relatively weak position are likely to become the ones being integrated by stronger states.

Funding is the second challenge. It is noteworthy that the unique nature of the sources of the EU's power legitimacy makes the bloc naturally deficient in terms of funding expenditures and administrative effectiveness. This context also makes the EU defense and space commissioner face many uncertainties, as well as internal and external challenges in reaching their desired goals. One of the current EU policy levers for stimulating and mobilizing member states' cooperation in various fields is specialized funding. The European Defence Fund, which focuses on space and the common defense, accounts for only about 0.74 percent of the total EU Multi-annual Financial Framework 2021-27 budget. In comparison, funds under the CAP account for more than 30 percent.

A further challenge or uncertainty for the EU lies in the fact that defense integration will face an inevitably competitive relationship with NATO, and how to manage it will not only test the wisdom of EU leaders, but it will also be subject to the degree of proximity of US-EU relations.

The author is a researcher at the Center for Central and Eastern European Studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University and a part-time researcher at the Institute for Central and Eastern European Economic and Trade Cooperation at Ningbo University. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn