The European Security Council would fast-track traditional EU bureaucratic gridlock during security emergencies. Under the proposal, it would rely on what European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called a "counter-hybrid playbook" to address grey-zone hostile actions.
In her 2026 State of the Union address, she explicitly said that these new mechanisms are meant to be "fully aligned" and "complementary" to NATO rather than replacing it. And speaking at Euronews' Defence & Space Summit, EU defence chief Andrius Kubilius said the ESC would "not [be] against NATO" but be "exactly the opposite”.
