BRUSSELS, July 29. /TASS/. Roads and railways in the European Union are unprepared for the rapid movement of troops and military equipment across continental Europe in the event of a conflict with Russia, European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism Apostolos Tzitzikostas told the Financial Times.
He proposes spending at least 17 billion euros on revamping European transport infrastructure in order to improve military mobility.
According to the official, NATO’s tanks weighing up to 70 metric tons would be immobilized by tunnels, fragile bridges and customs protocols. Today, "it takes weeks and, in some cases, months" to move military equipment and troops "from the Western side of Europe to the eastern side," the European commissioner noted, adding that some of the existing infrastructure facilities had not been built to allow armies to move across the EU.
"We have old bridges that have to be upgraded. We have narrow bridges that have to be widened. And we have non-existent bridges that have to be built," Tzitzikostas pointed out. Brussels is currently developing a strategy that would make it possible to move troops within a few hours, or a few days at most, in case of an attack. The initiative includes the upgrade of 500 infrastructure projects along four major military corridors passing through EU countries.
The projects, identified together with NATO and its military command, have been kept classified for security reasons. Brussels also plans to reduce the bureaucratic obstacles, Tzitzikostas said.The paper points out that in June, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte described Russia as the main threat to the alliance and claimed that Moscow allegedly planned to attack NATO in 2030. However, he failed to explain the reasons behind the allegation.