The European Commission is developing a new intelligence unit under the authority of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, with the aim of improving how information gathered by national agencies is pooled and used across EU institutions.
The initiative, still at the design stage, would sit within the Commission’s Secretariat-General and recruit secondees from the bloc’s intelligence community. The proposed body would collate material from member-state services for joint purposes.
The project reflects a broader shift in EU security posture since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and amid signals from Washington of a narrower US security commitment to Europe under President Donald Trump.
In recent months the Commission has outlined measures to harden the EU’s resilience against hybrid threats, including plans for a “European democracy shield” and a Centre for Democratic Resilience to counter foreign interference and disinformation. Those moves, led from the Berlaymont, are intended to tighten early warning, coordination and rapid response across capitals.
According to the FT, the intelligence unit would not conduct operational spying or deploy officers in the field. Rather, it would focus on analysis and coordination, drawing on contributions from member states under agreed arrangements. The concept is being developed within the Secretariat-General, with the expectation that it would work closely with the European External Action Service (EEAS) and existing structures.
The plan is politically sensitive. Intelligence remains a national competence, and member states have traditionally guarded sources and methods. Larger countries with extensive capabilities, notably France, have historically been cautious about sharing sensitive material widely. Some governments are also wary of any perception that the Commission is accruing new powers in a domain they view as intergovernmental. The FT reports that senior figures within the EEAS, which oversees the EU Intelligence and Situation Centre (Intcen), have voiced concern about duplication and the implications for Intcen’s role.
Officials cited by the FT said the initiative is framed as an effort to “join up” existing knowledge held by national services and by the Commission, rather than to supplant member-state agencies. Participation would rely on reciprocity and trust—long-standing prerequisites for intelligence exchange inside the EU—while formal governance and access protocols have yet to be detailed.
The discussion comes amid a wider review of EU security instruments. Intcen, housed in the EEAS, produces strategic assessments from member-state and open-source inputs, but it lacks powers to direct collection. In parallel, Europol supports criminal-intelligence cooperation among police authorities, and the EU’s hybrid and cyber response frameworks handle specific threat vectors. The proposed Commission unit would add an additional node focused on institutional users in Brussels, raising questions about interfaces, tasking and deconfliction across the system.
The FT also links the concept to von der Leyen’s internal “security college” for Commissioners, created to brief the College on intelligence and security matters. In practice, a Secretariat-General-based hub could streamline classified briefings to the Commission leadership and underpin policy initiatives where intelligence assessments are needed quickly, including sanctions design, critical infrastructure protection and election-security measures.
