The European Commission’s plan to strengthen the European Union’s defense and weapons industries

According to the report of the international group Tasnim news agency quoting “Spiegel” Weekly, the EU Commission wants to promote the production of weapons in this organization. In this regard, Thierry Breton, the Commissioner of Industry of the European Union, said: We have to go to the state of war economy. He also considered the possible election of Donald Trump as the next president. America explained: “In the current geopolitical situation, Europe must take more responsibility for its own security.” Trump had questioned NATO’s commitment to help member countries that, in his opinion, spend too little on weapons. Strongly strengthen the EU’s defense industry – and, according to SPIEGEL, order governments to buy more from EU companies.

Spiegel reports. wrote: The recent words of French President Emmanuel Macron seem almost tragic. The European Union, the world’s largest domestic market, has virtually no gunpowder anymore. “Gunpowder is something we don’t really have,” the French president said last week at a conference in support of Ukraine. p style=”text-align:justify”>Terry Breton, EU Commissioner for Industry and the Internal Market, explained the reason for this sorry state of affairs: To make gunpowder, you need a special type of cotton, so-called nitrocellulose. Unfortunately, more It comes from China – and its delivery “accidentally” stopped a few months ago. Never happen at all. On Tuesday, the French official will present the long-awaited EU defense industry strategy together with EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell.

According to confidential drafts obtained by SPIEGEL, the EU Commission wants to greatly expand the production of weapons goods, encouraging member states to buy far more weapons from within the EU than from abroad. Also, the European Commission wants to better protect this European industry against international competition. Also, the European Union turns itself into a kind of hub that examines and coordinates the need for weapons and military equipment and, if necessary, deals with shortages by massive intervention in the market.

The package consists of two parts, the “European Defense Industry Strategy” (Edis), which sets out the aims and rationale of the initiative, and the “European Defense Industry Agenda” (Edip), the actual legislative proposal. presents. A European Union official said: “Oedipus is a plan to change from the profit of peace to the economy of war.

According to the Edis draft, since the beginning of the Russian attack To Ukraine, EU countries have purchased 78% of their military equipment from outside the EU, and 63% from the United States alone. Between 2017 and 2023, the EU’s defense market grew by 64%, but trade between EU countries accounted for only 15% of this market.

According to the Commission , this situation must change fundamentally, and from 2030, EU countries must obtain half of their military equipment from the EU internal market, and by 2035, they must increase it to 60%.

In addition, EU countries recently cooperated on only 18% of their purchases. Even this may be an exaggeration; In September 2022, then-German Federal Defense Minister Christian Lambrecht estimated the share of joint procurement at just eight percent – although EU countries had already agreed on a 35 percent share in 2007.

The European Union Commission now wants to not only reach this point, but also quickly go beyond it. According to the presented plans, joint procurement should soon increase to 40%, in 2030 to 50% and in 2035 to 60%. The European Commission also wants to guarantee the security of supply of important raw materials – so that the EU is no longer dependent on, for example, the production of gunpowder, as Macron has criticized.

According to SPIEGEL Weekly, Ukraine is expected to benefit from this program in addition to the European Union. Ukraine should be seen as a member state when it comes to measures to strengthen the arms industry, the Edip draft says. Based on this, the companies based in this country should be considered as companies based in the European Union. The agreement has been reached, the methods that the European Commission offers to realize it have already annoyed some members of this union. Some diplomats say what the European Commission is planning is “too extreme”. According to critics, defense is the issue of EU countries; The Commission should not interfere with them.

In fact, the European Commission gives itself a central role in the strategy of the European defense industry. This European institution wants to carry out a general supervision of the defense industries in the member countries by “mapping” the defense supply chain in the countries. The aim is “to analyze the production capacity in the European Union, the effects on the supply of important military equipment and availability in real time.”

The European Union meets in a committee and receives their “advice and opinion”. However, the claimant to the presidency is there.

The EDIP draft says that avoiding shortages of critical military equipment “justifies proportionate interference with constitutional rights.” ” – “For example, in freedom of entrepreneurship and property rights”. In other words: if necessary, EU companies should be able to be forced to change their production. Even the confiscation of military equipment does not seem far-fetched in these circumstances.

However, government circles in Berlin say that they agree with Paris on the goal of strengthening the defense industry. The European Union agrees in the medium and long term. But in the short term Ukraine needs to be helped – and this is impossible without buying from third countries.

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