Lisbon, June 16, 2025 (Lusa) - The president of the European Council said on Monday that the European Union needs only one "robust collective defence system" instead of 27 large armed forces, considering that the defence spending target is not a " magic number’.

"We need only one large armed force. What we need is a robust collective defence system and for that we have to work on the basis of NATO plans and the priorities set by the European Defence Agency,” António Costa said during a conversation with former Prime Minister and former President of the European Commission José Manuel Durão Barroso at the ‘Europe and Transatlantic Relations’ conference organised in Lisbon by the Now channel.

For Costa, the discussion on the target for defence investment within NATO, “around 5%, 3%” of gross domestic product (GDP) should focus on a more constructive approach, because what matters is a clear goal.

The former socialist prime minister considered that Europe must “define the priority capabilities” for investment.

“What are the capabilities that we need to fill quickly to ensure our collective defence? And that is where we need to have an investment plan,” he said.

“That is where we should focus and have a European structure, which can and should be within NATO,” something that requires negotiation with the United States, he said.

The European Union, he argued, “should remain the political entity and should leave the existing military institution, NATO, to continue its role,” stressing the need to uphold the deterrent capacity of Article 5 of the Atlantic Alliance, which establishes the principle of collective defence.

For Costa, what the EU should be discussing is “how, in the next decade, Europe will progressively take on greater responsibilities and increasingly relieve the United States” within NATO.

JH/ADB // ADB.

Lusa