On Tuesday, the Transport and Tourism and Security and Defence Committees adopted their position on new EU military mobility rules, by 49 votes to nine and four abstentions. The intention behind the rules is to facilitate the transport of military equipment, goods, supplies and personnel. According to MEPs, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has shown the need for more robust planning and development of military transport across the EU.

Facilitating military movements

To overcome administrative barriers and fragmented national procedures, MEPs support the creation of a secure digital information system to help EU countries to manage military transport permissions, traffic arrangements and customs formalities. They propose advancing its introduction to 2027 (ahead of the Commission’s original proposal of 2030) and ensuring its interoperability with NATO.

MEPs backed measures to speed up the granting of military transport permissions, via standing and ad hoc permissions…