EU moves to create European Security Council as hybrid attacks intensify and US ties fray
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen plans to propose a new European Security Council that would include EU leaders and partners such as Ukraine, the UK, Norway and Canada in response to rising hybrid threats and worsening transatlantic relations.
European leaders are starting to rewire their security system while under pressure. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says she will propose a new European Security Council to bring together EU leaders and key non‑EU partners, with Ukraine invited to join from the outset.
The idea is meant to answer two linked problems: a surge in so‑called hybrid attacks on European infrastructure and institutions, and a visible deterioration in relations with Washington under President Donald Trump. Von der Leyen argues that Europe’s "doctrine," institutions and decision‑making have not kept up with the current security environment and that its systems were "made for a different world".
Her plan envisions a security forum that would include the United Kingdom, Norway, Canada and other like‑minded states alongside EU members. Ukraine, still fighting a full‑scale Russian invasion, would be at the table as a member of this new body even before any eventual accession to the Union. In parallel, von der Leyen has also floated making Canada the EU’s first associate member, a step that would deepen economic and security links without full membership.
The proposal is rooted in a blunt assessment of the threat picture. Von der Leyen has warned that hybrid threats facing Europe are "less and less hybrid and less and less threats," citing a daily increase in cyber attacks, sabotage, arson and drone incursions. She wants a European counter‑hybrid "playbook" and has called for an emergency security protocol, sometimes described as a kind of European Article 4, to guide joint responses to serious incidents.
Part of the message is directed inward, at candidate and partner countries. Von der Leyen has criticized Serbia over the public glorification of Ratko Mladić, saying she was horrified by images from his funeral in Belgrade and stressing that the glorification of war criminals has no place in the European Union. She has also condemned the Israeli government’s decision to advance the illegal E1 settlement project and pointed to deep suffering in Gaza and what she describes as unchecked settler violence in the West Bank.
In her view, security, values and enlargement are no longer separable. A European Security Council would sit alongside NATO but would give the EU and close partners a dedicated venue to coordinate on hybrid attacks, foreign interference and crises that may not trigger the alliance’s collective‑defence clauses but still demand a rapid, coherent response.
Whether this becomes a cornerstone of Europe’s security architecture or another limited forum will depend on the details. Key questions include how decisions in such a council would be made, which non‑EU states receive permanent seats, and how any new emergency protocol would interact with NATO consultations. The reactions of governments in capitals such as Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, London, Ottawa and Kyiv will determine how far the idea goes.
Sources
- OSINT