Military Schengen”: Europe Needs Faster and Seamless Cross-Border Military Mobility
Armands Gūtmanis, Sustainatbility Cluster Latvia
Europe must be able to move troops, military equipment and supplies across national borders within days rather than weeks. Achieving this requires a form of “Military Schengen” – harmonised and digitalised cross-border procedures, fit-for-purpose dual-use infrastructure and close cooperation between EU Member States, NATO, and the defence and transport sectors. Amid sustained geopolitical tensions, military mobility is becoming an essential prerequisite for European security, participants concluded at the forum “Mobility in Europe 2030 – Serving Sustainability and Military Purposes” held in Riga.
Military mobility in Europe is currently constrained not only by insufficient capacity of individual roads, bridges, railway lines or ports. Significant obstacles also include differing national customs and administrative requirements, inadequate multimodal connections, shortages of transport assets and a lack of qualified personnel. Military mobility therefore requires an integrated system in which infrastructure, transport capacity, energy supply and cross-border procedures function as interconnected elements.
The forum in Riga brought together representatives of EU institutions, NATO, the European Defence Agency, national authorities, academia, and the transport, defence and energy sectors. Discussions focused on how Europe’s transport system can simultaneously adapt to the new security environment, economic needs and sustainability objectives.
The keynote session on the future of European mobility addressed the changing geopolitical environment and its implications for transport policy, infrastructure investment and regional cooperation. Speakers included Latvian Minister of Transport Rihards Kozlovskis, State Secretary of the Latvian Ministry of Defence Airis Rikveilis, Marcin Nowacki, President of the Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society at the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), Riga City Council Chairman Viesturs Kleinbergs, Head of the European Commission Representation in Latvia Andris Kužnieks, and Sami Moisio, Professor of Spatial Planning and Policy and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Helsinki.
Marcin Nowacki, President of the Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society of the European Economic and Social Committee, stressed at the forum that, in the current geopolitical context, mobility must be addressed from both a military and a civil protection perspective. He particularly emphasised the need to overcome the existing fragmentation across the European Union and move towards a more coordinated approach.
“The important message is that the geopolitical situation has changed. Everybody knows that. But it will be a long-lasting one,” Professor Sami Moisio stressed, arguing that infrastructure, investment and political action therefore need to be planned from the perspective of a fundamentally changed security environment. He also emphasised that military preparedness, sustainability and social cohesion should not be viewed separately, but as interconnected elements of European resilience.
Andris Kužnieks highlighted another dimension of Europe’s changing mobility environment – the need to combine climate objectives, technological development and economic competitiveness. Referring to Europe’s future priorities, he stressed that climate policy increasingly involves both mitigating risks and adapting to the reality of a changing climate, which will also have consequences for future transport demand and infrastructure.
Military mobility requires an integrated European system
The panel “Security, Infrastructure and European Mobility Policy” focused on military mobility, dual-use infrastructure, cross-border coordination, regulatory alignment and investment priorities.
A central conclusion was that military mobility should be understood as an integrated, end-to-end system rather than simply as the construction of individual roads, bridges, railway lines or ports. Effective movement depends on physical infrastructure, multimodal connections, available transport assets, energy supply, digital systems and, crucially, harmonised procedures across borders.
The discussion highlighted a significant change in thinking in recent years: military mobility is increasingly regarded as a whole-of-government and whole-of-society responsibility. Moving troops, heavy equipment and supplies depends extensively on civilian transport companies and infrastructure operators. Consequently, cooperation between defence authorities, transport ministries, EU institutions and the private sector is essential. Military mobility cannot be ensured at national level alone, as reinforcement and large-scale military movements are inherently cross-border operations.
Participants repeatedly stressed two key operational requirements – mass and speed. Giuseppe Dello Stritto, Head of Unit – Land and Logistics at the European Defence Agency, noted that critical bottlenecks arise when physical infrastructure limitations, weak multimodal connections, shortages of transport assets and fragmented procedures converge. Ports, railways and logistics hubs therefore need to function as interconnected elements of a single transport chain. Energy supply, including fuel, electricity and other support required at logistics hubs, is likewise an integral part of military mobility.
The NATO perspective also underlined the need for simpler and more consistent procedures. Current arrangements have developed through layers of differing national customs, safety, health and administrative requirements, making rapid, large-scale military movements more difficult. The discussion therefore repeatedly returned to the idea of a “Military Schengen” – a European system that would allow military personnel, equipment and supplies to cross national borders more rapidly through harmonised and digitalised procedures and fewer administrative obstacles.
A further objective is to significantly shorten the time required to obtain the necessary permissions. The discussion pointed to a future model in which standardised military transport permission requests would be submitted through a common EU digital system and processed within days rather than weeks, as can currently be the case.
The scale of the investment challenge is considerable. During the panel, it was noted that the current Connecting Europe Facility included EUR 1.7 billion dedicated to military mobility, while demand significantly exceeded the available funding. The European Commission has proposed increasing funding for military mobility to EUR 17.6 billion in the next Multiannual Financial Framework, with investment focused on dual-use infrastructure, military corridors and critical infrastructure bottlenecks.
Speakers nevertheless emphasised that funding alone will not solve the problem. Europe also needs common priorities, coordinated projects along entire military corridors, sufficient civilian and military transport capacity, qualified personnel and faster implementation. As the discussion highlighted, vehicles and equipment can be purchased comparatively quickly, while skilled drivers and other transport professionals cannot be trained overnight.
Defence can help accelerate alternative energy solutions
The forum also examined transport electrification, alternative fuels and the decarbonisation of transport. One of the main barriers identified by industry representatives was cost: some alternative fuels remain several times more expensive than conventional equivalents, making commercial deployment difficult without predictable policies, support mechanisms and long-term investment certainty.
At the same time, the defence sector could become an important early adopter of emerging energy technologies. As European governments significantly increase the resources allocated to security and defence, the deployment of military solutions is less constrained by the immediate commercial cost considerations faced by civilian transport operators.
Participants suggested that producing, testing and deploying alternative fuels for defence purposes could help increase production volumes, support the practical and engineering development of technologies and generate economies of scale. Defence demand alone cannot eliminate the price gap, but it could contribute to technological development and incremental efficiency gains that could eventually make alternative fuels more competitive in the wider transport market.
Military mobility is becoming a European strategic priority
The conclusions of the Riga forum closely reflect the European Economic and Social Committee’s 2026 opinion on Military Mobility (TEN/869). The EESC stresses that military mobility is vital to EU deterrence and defence, particularly for frontline and transit Member States on the EU’s eastern flank. It calls for simplified and harmonised logistics, customs and transport rules, stronger protection and involvement of civilian personnel, and prioritised EU investment in dual-use infrastructure and technologies, including railways, roads, data networks, satellite communications, drones and innovative propulsion systems. The opinion also calls for substantially greater dedicated funding for military mobility under the Connecting Europe Facility.
The Riga discussion was moderated by Baiba Miltoviča, President of the Permanent Group on Transport at the European Economic and Social Committee, who is actively involved in the EESC’s work on European transport and infrastructure policy. The forum brought together representatives of the EESC, EU institutions, national authorities, NATO, the European Defence Agency and industry, allowing the practical challenges of implementing Europe’s military mobility ambitions to be examined from both civilian and defence perspectives.
The message emerging from the Riga forum was clear: military mobility is no longer a specialised defence issue. It is a test of Europe’s ability to coordinate infrastructure, transport, energy, regulation, investment and human resources across national borders. In an era of sustained geopolitical tension, resilient dual-use infrastructure and the capacity to move rapidly across Europe are becoming essential prerequisites for both European security and the functioning of the continent’s transport system.
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