(Brussels) According to President Antonio Costa, the second area where the European Council delivered is defence. “Today – he said at a press conference –, we have closed a cycle that we opened last February, when I convened a brainstorming devoted to this topic. In less than a year, working closely with the European Commission, we outlined the foundations for the Europe of Defence. We approved new financial tools to develop these capabilities and in full coherence with NATO. Our priorities now are clear, starting with anti-drone and air defence. And we are looking, naturally, at our Eastern flank”. He then outlined two deadlines: “Step 1 will be to finalise by the end of this year the ‘capability coalitions’ that will drive these projects forward; step 2 will be to launch and advance on concrete projects in early 2026”. Member states “will be in the driving seat to push our join efforts forward, with a bigger role for the Ministers of Defence and the European Defence Agency”. Europe’s defence, Costa said, “is not just about spending more. It’s about spending smarter, working together and delivering for our citizens. This is how we build Europe’s sovereignty. And the Roadmap on Defence Readiness that the European Commission presented today “was a decisive building block for that”.