EU MONITOR: Securing Europe in Insecure Times: How Military Mobility and Deepened European Integration are Vital to Europe's Security

Transport infrastructure policy is amongst the most compelling factors to be addressed to ensure that all means (air, road, rail, maritime and inland waterways) are available for dual-use and in all strategic directions. There are currently some existing incompatibilities that could constraint military mobility. For instance, the Baltic countries operate Russian gauge railroad tracks, whereas many other European states use standardized European gauges. Other physical barriers regarding infrastructure may be insufficient rail load capacity to bear overweight military vehicles or height clearance and weight tolerance of road bridges.

Overall military mobility is both a NATO and EU initiative in which mutual cooperation has proved positive. It has reinforced the bonds between the two institutions promoted since the foregoing Joint Declaration of 2016. Nevertheless the deepening of this relationship presents some challenges. For example, some argue that the efforts driven to strengthen EU's defence capabilities could undermine NATO. There is a certain tendency to approach this as a dichotomy where European defence architecture is either NATO ś or the EU ś responsibility.