European Security Council: New idea or a repackaged hybrid toolbox?

Published on 14/10/2026 - 8:29 GMT+2 The European Commission wants to create a European Security Council to better prepare the bloc for sabotage and external threats. In her State of the Union speech, President Ursula von der Leyen supported the plan as the EU’s answer to sabotage, cyberattacks and drone incursions from Russia. “Europe needs its own counter-hybrid playbook,” she said. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The idea is not new. French President Emmanuel Macron floated it in 2017, and France and Germany backed it in a 2018 declaration. The plan bundles three proposals: a leaders’ forum for strategy, an Emergency Security Protocol to respond quickly to hybrid threats, and a Strategic Enablers Instrument to invest in shared military capabilities. The Council would sit alongside NATO and is expected to include the EU’s 27 members plus the UK, Norway, Ukraine and Canada. The emergency protocol, modelled on NATO’s Article 4, would allow a country hit by an attack to trigger a meeting of all 27 to coordinate attribution, sanctions and diplomatic response. Brussels insists the plan is not a rival to NATO, which focuses on collective defence. Experts and critics say the problem is a lack of decision-making power, not meeting formats. The EU already has a Hybrid Toolbox, Rapid Response Teams and the IPCR crisis mechanism. Without reform of the unanimity rule, they warn the Council risks becoming another forum without real power. For now, it has no legal basis, membership rules, voting system, budget or start date. More detail is expected in the EU’s upcoming Security Strategy.