Senior European Union officials on Tuesday unveiled plans to develop the continent's arms industry. The initiative is justified by the fact that Russia's war in Ukraine has shown that member states should increase joint arms purchases. Reuters writes , UNN reports.
"Over the past two years, we have faced a situation where the defense industry did not have sufficient production capacity to meet the sharp increase in demand.
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It is worth noting that if this package is approved, 1.5 billion euros ($1.63 billion - ed.) will be distributed over the period between 2025 and 2027.
Thierry Breton, the EU Commissioner for Industry, has proposed the creation of an EU defense fund of 100 billion euros. But this idea has not yet found wide support among EU member states.
Vestager acknowledged that €1.5 billion is "not a lot of money when it comes to the defense industry." However, she noted that the initiative could create incentives to encourage the 27 EU national governments responsible for defense to work together.
The European Commission has also stated that it wants to link Ukraine as closely as possible in its new plans, even though it is not a member of the EU.
Officials have also raised the prospect that the EU could use the proceeds of frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine's defense industry or even buy weapons for Kyiv. But EU members have not yet agreed on how to use these funds.
The European Commissioners are convinced that the EU should aim to procure at least 40% of defense equipment "jointly" by 2030 and spend at least 50% of defense procurement budgets in the EU by the same date.
The Commission has also proposed a pilot program to create a European version of the US Foreign Military Sales scheme, under which the United States helps other governments buy from US arms companies.
We don't have a Pentagon anywhere. We don't have an institution that has strong purchasing power, that drives the market and drives the industry. But we have to cooperate and coordinate.
All these proposals still require the approval of EU member states, which have been reluctant to cede powers over defense and military policy, as well as the European Parliament.
The European Association of the Defense Industry ASD has widely endorsed these proposals.
Speed and financial resources will be crucial for their realization.
These proposals will also be closely scrutinized by NATO, which has welcomed the EU's increased defense efforts but warned that they should not duplicate or contradict the work of the transatlantic alliance.
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Earlier, UNN wrote that the EU seeks to develop the European defense industry so that European countries can move to a "war economy" in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
According to the Commission, from the beginning of the war until June last year, EU countries spent more than 100 billion euros on military equipment - 80% outside the EU, with the United States alone accounting for more than 60%. This was prompted by the war in Ukraine and Moscow's bellicose rhetoric toward the West.