Blueprint aims to tilt balance toward European military suppliers.
A new plan to coordinate increased military spending among EU members is not just about bolstering Europe’s defenses — it’s also about boosting its defense industries.
As governments across Europe ramp up defense budgets in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine, the race is on to determine who will benefit from the billions of extra euros that are suddenly up for grabs.
In many cases, that comes down to a simple question: Buy American or European?
While insisting the EU remains open to global competition, officials made clear on Wednesday that a package of European Commission proposals on defense investment is also meant to tilt the balance toward home-grown industries.
Presenting the plan in Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell noted that Europe buys some 60 percent of its military capabilities from outside the bloc, declaring: “It’s too much. We must reduce our dependence on the outside world.”
Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said that “we have to indeed ensure that these investments, funded by the European taxpayers … should benefit first and foremost European industry wherever that is possible.”
One of the goals of the plan is to get European governments to work together on joint procurement by offering financial incentives to do so. Borrell and the Commission said in a joint communication to other EU bodies that they aim to get countries to invest “together” “better” and “European.”
The plan may face its stiffest test among EU member governments, some of whom have been wary of such proposals in the past, believing them to be designed primarily to boost France’s defense industry — the biggest in the bloc. The proposals also fit with French President Emmanuel Macron’s drive for European “strategic autonomy” — making the EU more able to act independently on the global stage in a wide range of areas including defense.
“The idea is to buy more European … also French to a large extent,” one diplomat said.
Although the EU’s treaties forbid the bloc from using its budget for military operations, officials insist the proposal is legally sound as it focuses on issues such as procurement and industrial development.
Officials who have long pushed for a more joined-up approach to European defense procurement argue that the current Continental market is too fragmented. While the U.S has only one type of battle tank, the EU has 12, they note. They fear the rush to spend more on defense could lead to even more fragmentation.
One of the ideas in the package is a Defence Joint Procurement Task Force, to be set up by the Commission and Borrell, to work with member states and focus on coordination to avoid a race to secure orders, “which would result in spiraling prices.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-defense-brussels-budget-military-us-josep-borrell/