European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has insisted that bypassing Members of European Parliament (MEPs) to push through a £128 billion defence loan was “fully justified”. Von der Leyen said the commission’s use of an emergency clause in the EU treaty to shut MEPs out of approving a £128 billion (€150 billion) loan for weapon procurement by EU countries was in response to “existential” challenges facing the continent. She made the claims in a letter addressed to European Parliament (EP) President Roberta Metsola, who threatened to take legal action against the move last month.

However, the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) proposal was approved later in May, excluding European Parliament from involvement in drafting the joint procurement programme. Metsola said the Commission’s sidelining of standard processes risked “undermining democratic legitimacy by weakening Parliament’s legislative and scrutiny functions”. In her response to the EP president, seen by Euroactiv, von der Leyen argued that the measure was “an exceptional and temporary response to an urgent and existential challenge”.

The Commission president added that the use of the emergency clause had been “fully justified” because of a “stark deterioration in the security context that demands a massive increase in defence industrial spending”.

She said European Parliament had scrutinised other defence proposals under the normal rules, indicating that it “has never been the intention of the Commission to circumvent the powers of the [Parliament], even in a context where the circumstances justified that measures are adopted swiftly.”

Von der Leyen also suggested that the Commission had “fully respected” the role of Parliament in relation to SAFE by responding to MEPS in meetings during April and May.

European Parliament’s legal affairs committee will vote next week on whether to move forward with legal action against the Commission through the Court of Justice.

After the SAFE agreement was confirmed in the Council of the EU in March, von der Leyen said the instrument was evidence of “exceptional times [requiring] exceptional measures”.

“Europe must now assume a greater share of responsibility for its own security and defence,” she added. “With SAFE, we are not only investing in cutting-edge capabilities for our Union, for Ukraine, and for the entire continent; we are also strengthening the European defence technological and industrial base.

“This is about readiness. This is about resilience. And it is about creating a truly European market for defence.”