The European Commission is considering creating its own intelligence cell under the direct command of EU President Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission itself confirmed on Tuesday. The idea has caused some surprise and even alarm, as there is already an organisation, under the mandate of the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Policy, Kaja Kallas, responsible for conducting intelligence analysis to help the 27 countries and institutions make political decisions. However, the Committee is ensuring that the project, which is still at a very preliminary stage, does not seek to “replace” these efforts, but rather to “complement” them.
“When we look at the international situation from a geopolitical or geoeconomic point of view, we see that the world is changing. And that we have to strengthen our security and intelligence. This is the context” of the proposal, a community spokesman said after the newspaper. Financial Times Propelling a project that, according to the European executive, is still in a “very embryonic” stage and does not even have a specific name yet.
This cell, if it is created at all – and there is no shortage of voices remembering that there have already been similar projects that have come to nothing – will be small in size and will be placed within the General Secretariat, responsible for ensuring “the general coherence of the Commission’s work, both in shaping new policies and in channeling them through other EU institutions.”
Community spokesmen noted that the new intelligence cell would, among other things, help with preparations for the security colleges, the special meetings of the body of commissioners that von der Leyen began holding last March and in which each commissioner receives periodic updates on security developments and an analysis of potential threats surrounding the portfolios they manage. It will, according to the European executive, cooperate “closely” with the intelligence services of the EU External Action Service, which has an EU Intelligence and Situation Center (Intcen) that collects intelligence from member states.
But this is where some hesitation arises. On the part of the Foreign Ministry, led by the Estonian Kallas, there has been a fear of “duplication” of tasks since then, almostis what Intcen already does. Other experts familiar with previous similar projects – von der Leyen herself already in 2021 raised the “urgent need to improve intelligence cooperation” and spoke of the creation of a “joint situational awareness center to integrate all information” that has not yet been achieved – also consider it difficult for countries, which have not yet been consulted on this new project, to share their spies with more than one European organization, when this is a national competition.
Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis went further, publicly mocking the idea, which he described on social media as Von der Leyen’s “CIA” in Brussels.
Despite this, the need for the Commission and its head to obtain first-hand intelligence as quickly as possible to confront any threat is something that former Finnish President Sauli Nesto highlighted during the preparation of the report on how to improve Europe’s civil and defense preparedness that von der Leyen commissioned, Europe Press reports. Niesto described it as “vital importance” for the head of the European executive to have “all possible information about threats and crises.”
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