The European Union on Monday approved a new defence strategy designed to increase the bloc's capacity to act, including setting up a 5,000-strong rapid reaction force.

The plan -- in the pipeline for two years -- underwent a last-minute rewrite to increase the focus on the threat from Russia after Moscow invaded Ukraine.

"It's not the answer to the Ukrainian war, but it is part of the answer," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said at a meeting of the bloc's foreign and defence ministers.

"When we started working, we couldn't imagine that at the last moment of approval the situation would be so bad and Europe would be facing such a big challenge."

EU leaders have described Russia's assault on Ukraine as a wake-up call that their 27 nations have to take a more muscular approach to their security.

US-led military alliance NATO has for decades provided the bedrock for European defence and the war in Ukraine has reinforced the instinct among many EU members to keep Washington close.

But there has also been a push led by France for the bloc to bolster its own capacity to act.

The new strategy is designed to strike that balancing act while boosting defence cooperation between EU states.

"The more hostile security environment requires us to make a quantum leap forward and increase our capacity and willingness to act, strengthen our resilience, and invest more and better in our defence capabilities," the EU said in a statement.

"The objective of the Strategic Compass is to make the EU a stronger and more capable security provider."

Central to the plan is the establishment, by 2025, of an "EU Rapid Deployment Capacity" of up to 5,000 troops that could be sent into hostile environments.

The push for the force gained momentum during the West's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan last year when Europe found itself reliant on the United States for evacuations.

The strategy said the force would have land, air and maritime components and could be used "in different phases of an operation in a non-permissive environment, such as initial entry, reinforcement or as reserve force to secure an exit".

Germany's Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said Berlin wanted to provide the core of the rapid response force for the first year it is set up.

Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said the new strategy provides the "necessary toolbox for EU to become a real geopolitical defence and security player together with NATO".

"It's only beginning of the journey," he wrote on Twitter.

"Much will depend on how successfully we support Ukraine against Russia's aggression."

EU leaders meeting at a summit in France this month vowed to significantly step up their overall defence spending in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

But the new plan gave no firm details and said that EU nations would only "exchange on our national objectives on increased and improved defence spending" by mid-2022.

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Norway boosts military spending by over 300 mn euros: minister
Oslo (AFP) March 18, 2022
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