EU MILITARISATION INTENSIFIES

EU MILITARISATION INTENSIFIES RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: jan/feb 2026 :: RMTnews 19 The European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) has warned that European Union plans to further militarise the bloc represented a threat to transport workers’ rights and raised the spectre of forced labour. The European Commission has presented plans to create an EU-wide military mobility area by next year, bringing the EU one step closer towards a ‘Military Schengen.’ In order to move troops and military equipment across Europe rapidly, the Commission wants to remove regulatory barriers to allow cross-border movements. This would involve an emergency framework: a new European Military Mobility Enhanced Response System (EMERS) for fast-track procedures and priority access to infrastructure, supporting armed forces acting in the context of EU or NATO. NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte has also recently urged EU member states to prepare for large-scale war, warning that “we must be prepared for the scale of war our grandparents and great grandparents endured”. EU authorities are already allocating unprecedented sums for military hardware. According to the European Defence Agency (EDA), the combined arms spending of member states shot up by 19 per cent in 2024 reaching 343 billion euros. For 2025, that figure is expected to hit a staggering 381 billion euros. The ETF has pointed out that transport was a critical infrastructure for moving military hardware. “When policymakers talk about ‘military mobility’, they are talking about the roads, railways, ports, airports, bridges, tunnels and vehicles that our union members operate every single day. And they are talking about the workers who drive, sail, fly, load, maintain and control those vehicles and infrastructures. “The ETF has always stood for peace. Our Constitution explicitly states that we ‘promote peace and oppose all forms of physical, political or social violence’. “Peace is a precondition for the full exercise of human rights and stable democracy. “There is no peace and security without social justice,” it said. Last year, the Commission and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas, also put forward the White Paper for European Defence – Readiness 2030, complemented by the Commission’s ReArm Europe Plan/Readiness 2030, an ambitious arms package providing financial levers to EU member states to drive an investment surge in military capabilities. The military mobility package has been developed in close coordination with the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the EDA, ensuring coherence with NATO standards and procedures. The European Commission published proposals for a Regulation on Military Mobility, to facilitate the rapid movement of troops and military equipment. However, the ETF has warned that the Commission’s Communication failed to even mention workers once. “It also ignores the persistent problem of labour shortages and how to address them, as well as the well- known deterioration in working conditions in the sector. “Disregarding such fundamental issues is a serious threat to the success of this proposal for military mobility. If we can’t attract workers in times of peace, how can we expect to do so in times of war?” it said. The ETF insisted that the requisitioning of civilian transport workers or assets in a crisis must never become forced labour. “The derogations on driving time, rest periods and cabotage rules announced by the European Commission send an extremely worrying sign. “Transport workers may be called to act in a crisis at a moment’s notice, with hundreds of lives depending on their decisions they make under extreme pressure. “Security and preparedness can only be built on the highest standards of safety, training and working conditions – not on cost- cutting and liberalisation,” a statement said. Growing EU military build-up ignores transport workers’ rights