The European Union Commission has unveiled its defense strategy to massively boost weapons production ahead of rising security threats and shifting from reliance on US arms.
Belgium (Brussels Morning Newspaper), European Union officials on Tuesday presented its first defense strategy in an urgent bid to rebuild its capacity to combat potential future Russian threats. Under the name of ‘the European Defense Industry Strategy (EDIS),’ the EU Commission proposed €1.5 Billion into a joint defense industry program between 2025 and 2027. The bloc would boost spending and increase cooperation in procurement.
“Today we set our vision for defense readiness with Europe’s defense industrial strategy. It will support Member States to not only spend more but also better, together and Europe. And link Ukraine’s know-how with our defense industry to facilitate innovation.” Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission President said in a statement.
The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement, “After decades of underspending, we must invest more on defense, but we need to do it better and together,” adding, “A strong, resilient, and competitive European defense industry is a strategic imperative.”
Speaking to reporters, Margrethe Vestager, the Commission’s executive vice-president, said the proposal is designed to “respond to the changes of Europe’s security paradigm.”
Along with the new strategy, the Commission has proposed a European Defence Industry Programme to “bridge from short-term emergency measures, adopted in 2023 and ending in 2025, to a more structural and longer-term approach to achieve defense industrial readiness,” the Commission said in a statement.
The move is driven both by the need to respond to Russia’s war in Ukraine and suspected future threats and by shifting Europe’s reliance on the United States amid the possible return of Donald Trump.
The plan will urge the member states to make at least 40 percent of their defense equipment purchases collectively by 2030, and to have the value of intra-EU defense trade represent at least 35 percent of the EU defense market.
The Commission said the new strategy is aimed at “supporting a more efficient expression of the Member States’ collective defense demand” as well as “securing the availability of all defense products” and “ensuring that national and EU budgets support with the necessary means the adaptation of the European defense industry to the new security context.”
Also, Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said during the presentation of the Commission’s new strategy that “peace is no more a given” and “the Russia war of aggression has brought a great sense of urgency to step up our industrial defense capacities.”
This proposed defense boost signals an end to peacetime defense strategy in Europe indicating the production of ammunition and battlefield hardware such as tanks being wound down. It also marks a departure from Europe’s reliance on the protective cover of the US through the NATO alliance. ‘If not now, then when?’ Commission vice-president says while conceding fund ‘not a lot.’
During the press conference Margrethe Vestager, the Commission’s executive vice president admitted that “1.5 billion is not a lot of money when it comes to the defence industry – but it can still work as an incentive, as a bonus, as what makes member states come together.” She said, “The real funding for a stronger defense comes from member states. And that funding will increase over the years to come. So, what we can do here is to enable that funding to be spent in a better way, that we get more value for money, and that more relatively speaking is being spent in Europe as well.” She stated, “With war on our borders, if not now, then when?” Earlier this year, Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton has also suggested a huge €100 Billion for a defense investment programme to match the production industry with the required capacities at a war-time pace, aligning with EU countries and Ukraine’s needs.
Greater Role:
The prospect of a return by Donald Trump to the White House has compelled the European states to focus their minds on Europe. Trump has regularly made remarks on NATO’s collective security failure. “We need to get that transatlantic balance right, irrespective of election electoral dynamics in the US,” said European Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager. “We must take more responsibility for our security, while, of course, remaining fully committed to our NATO alliance.” She added.
