The European Commission proposed on Tuesday to drastically strengthen the EU’s defense industry in the face of the Russian threat, in order also to depend less on the United States in arms production.
In detail, it proposes that by 2030, “50% of military equipment” ordered by Member States be supplied by European industry, declared to the press its vice-president, Margrethe Vestager, while 68% of Weapons purchases made in the EU for the benefit of Ukraine are made from American manufacturers, said European Commissioner Thierry Breton, in charge of defense industries.
Brussels wants to encourage the 27 to acquire military equipment together by creating favorable conditions for joint purchasing programs. “We are not here to finance” arms purchases but to help member states do it better and together, Mr. Breton clarified.
The new European defense strategy, presented Tuesday by the Commission, will have an initial budget of 1.5 billion euros (CA$2.2 billion).
“It’s not a lot of money,” admitted M.me Vestager. But this sum will serve as an incentive, a bonus for Member States each time they want to pool their resources to acquire or develop arms production in Europe, she added. “The real funding will come from the Member States,” explained the Competition Commissioner.
EU countries spent 58 billion euros (CA$85 billion) last year to acquire weapons, said the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell. The EU budget will not “replace” national budgets to reach this sum, he stressed.
The Commission nevertheless suggests using the income generated by Russian assets frozen in Europe to increase this initial budget by 1.5 billion euros. Some 200 billion euros (C$295 billion) of Russian assets of the Central Bank of Russia have been frozen in Europe.
Commissioner Breton, for his part, mentioned a budget of some 100 billion euros (CA$147.5 billion) over several years to allow Europeans to develop their defense industry, make it competitive with the United States and strengthen the aid to Ukraine in the war started by Russia.
Some European countries are in favor of it, but others like Germany are much more reluctant. “We will have to work on this within the framework of a future mandate,” indicated Mr. Breton. The five-year term of the current Commission comes to an end at the end of this year.