Russia’s war against Ukraine has shown the need to move military troops and equipment from point A to B quickly. But complex peacetime rules could turn a simple convoy into a planning nightmare. To move a military convoy across Member States in days, Europe needs to take steps towards a ‘’military Schengen’’: harmonised rules, pre-agreed routes and interoperable digital permissions.
On 19 November 2025, the European Commission and the High Representative adopted the Military Mobility Package 2025, a comprehensive set of measures to ensure the swift, coordinated and secure movement of military personnel and equipment across the European Union. The package seeks to strengthen Europe's defence posture by addressing barriers to military mobility across regulatory, infrastructure, and capability dimensions—critical areas that currently hinder military transport across borders.
The Military Mobility Package 2025 builds on lessons learned from the revised Action Plan 2.0 and the 2024 Military Mobility Pledge. It has been developed in close coordination with the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the European Defence Agency (EDA).
Towards a ‘Military Schengen’
As announced in the White Paper for European Defence Readiness 2030, The Military Mobility Package aims at strengthening Europe’s defence posture by addressing military mobility barriers in all dimensions, regulatory, infrastructure and capabilities, that currently slow down military transport across borders.
The Package represents the EU’s most ambitious step yet to pave the way towards a “Military Schengen”, contributing to deterrence and increasing the Union’s preparedness in a rapidly changing security environment.
Removing regulatory barriers for military transport and emergency situations
At the heart of the package lies a proposed Regulation establishing a framework of measures to facilitate military transport across the Union. This Regulation provides an EU framework fit for ensuring seamless and smooth military transport at speed and scale by removing regulatory obstacles, harmonising cross-border permissions, and ensuring resilient infrastructure and capability readiness.
Key features of the regulatory include:
- Common rules and procedures for military transport, introducing a clear process for cross-border military movements, with a maximum three-day processing time and specific rules for emergency situations;
- A new European Military Mobility Enhanced Response System (EMERS) to be activated in times of crisis, enabling rapid, EU-wide prioritisation of military movements;
- Streamlined customs and transport formalities, providing clarity for armed forces acting in the context of the EU or NATO, a single notification process for all transport modes;
- Extending certain procedures to non-EU NATO members.
With these measures, the objective is to significantly improve military mobility across the Union, through better cooperation and strategic flexibility in response to evolving security challenges.
Pooling and sharing capabilities and embracing digitalisation
To ensure Member States can rely on transport and logistics capabilities needed for military mobility:
- A Military Mobility Solidarity Pool, allowing Member States to share and use registered national and EU transport assets, with possible support by EU co-funding.
- A possibility to create Military Mobility Digital Information System, an EU-wide platform for managing movement authorisations and customs documentation, interoperable with NATO systems.
- A Military Mobility Catalogue, enabling civilian companies to voluntarily list dual-use transport and logistic assets available for military operations.
The European Competitiveness Fund proposed to support access to key relevant capabilities over the period 2028-2034.
Strengthening governance and coordination
- At EU level, a Military Mobility Transport Group, bringing together Member States, the Commission, the EEAS, and the European Defence Agency, will guide the implementation of the Regulation and oversee annual readiness checks and stress tests. Ukraine and EEA countries can be invited as observers.
- To better co-ordinate on the ground, each Member State shall designate a National Coordinator for Military Transport to serve as a single contact point for permissions and notifications and to ensure whole-of-government approach.
Readiness of dual-use infrastructure
- Upgrading the four Priority Military Mobility corridors, addressing key bottlenecks along these with the already identified 500 “hotspot projects” with increased support under the next MFF.
- Enhancing the resilience and cyber protection of strategic dual-use infrastructure, including ports, airports, bridges, tunnels and transport relevant energy infrastructure.
- Introducing a new resilience toolbox to identify and protect strategic dual-use infrastructure to make them resilient against all hazards and threats, mitigate foreign ownership risks and strengthen cybersecurity.
- Ensuring energy supply for military transport, integrating defence needs into forthcoming EU energy security legislation and sustainable fuels strategies.
Partnerships and exercises Deepening our cooperation with NATO and other partners
- Deepen “flagship” cooperation with NATO on military mobility.
- Shared table-top exercises from 2026 on military mobility where the EU will invite NATO.
- Member States can use the new regulatory framework to speed up their assistance to Ukraine.
Military mobility is essential for Europe’s resilience and defence readiness. It refers to the ability to move troops, military equipment, and supplies quickly from one location to another, and can also cover the evacuation of civilians in a crisis. Military transport may be carried out either by the armed forces themselves or by civilian companies contracted by the military. Effective military mobility requires adequate physical infrastructure, appropriate transport assets, and efficient rules and procedures.
The EU launched its Military Mobility policy in November 2017. The first joint Action Plan of the High Representative and the Commission, adopted in March 2018, focused on upgrading the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) to serve dual-use purposes. This led to the first dedicated military mobility budget of approximately EUR 1.7 billion under the Connecting Europe Facility 2021-2027, which supported 95 dual-use transport infrastructure projects across 21 Member States. While these improvements were significant, the Commission and the EEAS recognised the need to better guide and prioritise future dual-use investments. As a result, the Council adopted four priority multi-modal military mobility corridors in March 2025, designed to facilitate short-notice, large-scale military movements.
Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine in February 2022 increased the urgency of EU action. The second Joint Action Plan on Military Mobility, adopted the same year, expanded the EU’s work beyond infrastructure to address regulatory hurdles and capability gaps. The Council pledge on Military Mobility in May 2024 renewed Member States’ commitment to remove infrastructure bottlenecks, accelerate cross-border movement permissions, and enhance EU-NATO cooperation. The March 2025 Joint White Paper for European Defence – Readiness 2030, together with the Defence Readiness Roadmap, identified military mobility as a priority capability, with the Military Mobility Package announced as a key deliverable for 2025.
The purpose of the Military Mobility Package 2025 is to ensure that military forces, equipment, and supplies can move quickly and efficiently across the EU, whenever and wherever needed.
Through the proposed Regulation, the EU creates a binding EU-level framework to remove procedural barriers, harmonise rules, and strengthen the infrastructure, governance, and digital systems that underpin Military Mobility. This will enhance defence-readiness, improve coordination with NATO, and ensure the resilience of dual-use infrastructure vital to Europe’s security.
So far, existing legal frameworks have improved coordination but remained voluntary and fragmented. This Military Mobility Package ensures that all Member States apply the same procedures, deadlines, and templates, leading to faster deployments and stronger interoperability across the EU.
Despite progress, significant barriers remain. National rules are often divergent, fragmented, and not harmonized, while the increased subcontracting of military operations to civilian carriers has created a complex patchwork of regulations. Operations to Ukraine have highlighted delays and coordination challenges.
Funding dedicated to upgrading the EU’s transport infrastructure has proven insufficient, and several bottlenecks persist. Transport capabilities, such as flatbed wagons and Ro-Ro ferries, remain scarce.
These issues undermine the EU’s security and defence capacity and expose critical vulnerabilities in the transport network. Europe must therefore accelerate efforts to remove remaining barriers and move towards a “Military Schengen” for unrestricted movement when needed.
The proposed Regulation introduces the first comprehensive and harmonised EU framework for military transport. It establishes common rules and procedures for military movement permissions, including harmonised lead times and a single application form, while adapting civilian transport rules to military needs through targeted exemptions.
The Regulation also introduces an EU-wide emergency framework with clear activation, accelerated procedures, and further relaxation of certain transport rules during extraordinary situations. Strategic dual-use infrastructure, including key transport nodes, will be identified and protected, ensuring critical elements of the network remain operational and resilient. In addition, the Regulation creates a sharing and pooling mechanism for military transport assets to enhance access to strategic capabilities and address shortages.
By enabling the swift movement of military personnel and equipment, the Military Mobility Package strengthens Europe’s resilience and deterrence, making the EU safer for all citizens. In emergencies, military transport may temporarily affect civilian traffic, but the Regulation ensures priority access, pre-planned routes, and coordinated measures to minimise disruptions.
Ongoing investments in dual-use infrastructure will further ensure that both civilian and military traffic can be accommodated efficiently.
The Package provides legal certainty and predictability for civilian operators working with the military by harmonising definitions and clarifying how civilian transport rules apply to military operations. It facilitates cooperation through dual-use standards and harmonised framework contracts, while a harmonised emergency framework ensures that military transport can proceed quickly in extraordinary situations, minimising disruptions to civilian traffic as much as possible.
Developing a dual-use trans-European transport network requires significant investment. Under the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027, EUR 1.69 billion co-funded 95 dual-use projects. Recognising the high demand for funding, the Commission proposed a tenfold increase to EUR 17.65 billion for the next budgetary period starting in 2028. In the meantime, Member States can also use reallocated Cohesion policy funds and the SAFE instrument to support dual-use infrastructure projects.
Together with Member States and supported by the EU Military Staff, the Commission has identified 500 “hotspot” projects to remove critical bottlenecks on priority military mobility corridors. These projects include reinforcing bridges, widening tunnels, and increasing capacity at ports and airports. The Commission will coordinate with Member States to ensure investments are implemented swiftly and coherently along the corridors.
Critical infrastructure that supports military mobility, including ports, airports, energy, and communications nodes, will now be systematically identified and safeguarded. Member States will draw up national lists based on harmonised criteria, which the Commission will review to ensure cross-border coherence. Operators will be required to ensure that identified infrastructure is resilient against a variety of threats, supported by a common toolbox of protection measures developed with the Commission.