EU Commission President Urged to Create Intelligence Agency

A new report has recommended that Brussels coordinate the intelligence-gathering activities of member states.

An EU report has suggested that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen establish a comprehensive intelligence agency to coordinate covert activities of member states. However, even proponents of the idea acknowledge it would be costly and unpopular.

Authored by former Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and published on Wednesday, the report outlines the EU’s readiness for war and provides a series of general recommendations. Brussels officials are advised, for instance, to foster a “preparedness culture” and to “strengthen civil-military coordination frameworks.”

One of the more specific recommendations is for the EU to create “a fully-fledged intelligence cooperation service, serving all EU institutions and member states.” The report proposes that the agency would gather intelligence from national-level agencies to “serve both strategic and operational needs of EU-level policy-planning and decision-making.”

Although described by as a “CIA-style spy service,” the report does not mention the agency conducting clandestine operations outside the EU’s borders, which is the CIA’s role within America’s extensive intelligence apparatus. Instead, it suggests that the agency would “coordinate specific counter-espionage tasks” and assist member states in “countering threats against them posed by hostile foreign intelligence services.”

At the launch of Niinisto’s report, von der Leyen admitted that member states will likely be hesitant to allow Brussels bureaucrats to oversee their intelligence sectors. For now, she stated, the EU will prioritize “strengthening information sharing.”

Niinisto also acknowledged that, during his research for the report, he encountered “many critical voices” from member states expressing concerns about increasing the bloc’s budget to fund this agency.

If implemented, the report’s recommendations would represent another expansion of the EU’s powers. Two years ago, the bloc adopted its first common defense strategy, authorizing the creation of a 5,000-strong “rapid deployment” force. Last month, von der Leyen appointed former Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius as the EU’s inaugural defense commissioner.

Earlier this month, Kubilius indicated that he would focus on boosting arms production across the bloc, stating that “we must be ready to meet Russia militarily in six to eight years.”

Kubilius has also urged the EU to pursue regime change in Moscow and to support “democratic forces” working to overthrow President Vladimir Putin’s government.