The end of the Cold War came with a promise of peace in Europe. We managed to keep the promise within the European Union but, a quarter of century later, we have learnt the hard way that instability outside our borders impacts directly on the security of our citizens. This has led to a major rethink on how we work together on defence.

Today, we all agree that the EU will only be safe if we act together. There is now an unprecedented consensus on the need for stronger cooperation on security. Over the last few months, we have been preparing an ambitious defence package, built upon three pillars.

First, we believe the EU can be made more secure through external action. Therefore, the EU’s global strategy is being followed up with concrete proposals, such as the implementation plan on security and defence. This defines a ‘European way’ to security based on building partnerships, supporting reconciliation and fostering resilience to prevent crises before they arise.

To carry out these tasks and act as a responsible security provider, we need to respond faster, to improve coordination among our civilian and military missions and to spend better. This means more cooperation among member states and this is what the plan seeks to achieve.

Second, we need stronger cooperation with our core security partners, starting from NATO. In December, both the EU and NATO approved a set of 42 concrete actions to implement the joint declaration signed last July.

We all agree that the EU will only be safe if we act together

But the first two pillars could not be achieved without investing in research and capabilities development. To this end, the European Commission has put forward a European defence action plan, the third pillar of our package.

For too long, defence procurement has failed to exploit the full potential of our small and medium enterprises or the single market. Around 80 per cent of defence procurement is purely national. The lack of cooperation between member states is estimated to cost up to €100 billion a year.

The EU is the world’s second largest military spender: our combined defence budget is about half that of the United States.

But quality matters as much as quantity, and we are all less secure as a result of this inefficient spending. Cooperation in Europe is essential to achieving economies of scale in innovation and procurement.

In other sectors of the economy, the EU has boosted performance by investing in high-end research, helping to finance fast-growing companies and harnessing the power of the single market to ensure consumers get a better deal. This is what we now want to do in the defence sector.

We will start with new research funding. After a pilot phase, until 2020, we believe the next EU budget should commit €500 million a year to innovative defence-related technologies.

Member states will remain fully in charge. They will decide where and how to invest, but we can provide them with the right framework to develop and buy the capabilities they will own. A sum of €5 billion a year should be realistic, even though much more would be needed to reach the target of two per cent of GDP set for NATO members.

In March this year, the EU will turn 60.

It is high time to take our security seriously. Let us move towards a true defence union that can deliver that.

Federica Mogherini is High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Jyrki Katainen is vice-president of the European Commission.