“We must move quickly. The threat of war may not be imminent but it is not impossible,” the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, warned this Wednesday in a speech in Strasbourg in which she called on public opinion and European leaders to “wake up ” to the reality of the security risks that threaten the Union. “We must not exaggerate the risks of a war, but we must prepare for them,” Von der Leyen added before detailing the main lines of the plan for the defense industry that the Executive will approve next week.
The initiative affects one of the sectors most jealously protected by national governments, in which there are no community powers, but Brussels maintains that the new security context forces cooperation, just as happened with the covid pandemic or the energy shock which followed the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and wants to put financial incentives on the table to stimulate joint European action. Among its proposals stands out the promotion of joint tenders in defense through a European investment program, with the possibility of the Commission signing the advance of contracts to stimulate production. “Just like we did with vaccines or natural gas, this will help us reduce fragmentation and increase interoperability,” he said.
The theory behind this model, which the team of the European Commissioner for Internal Market and Industry, Thierry Breton, has been working on for months, although he did not mention it, is that the guarantee of future purchases signed by Brussels will give the European defense the necessary incentives to increase their production capacity of weapons, ammunition and technologies for military use since they will be certain that they will have someone to sell to. The strategy that the Commission will propose next week, as La Vanguardia announced, includes measures such as the creation of a European catalog of capabilities similar to the one that exists in the United States, the implementation of European projects of common interest and its own institutional architecture. with which to build an authentic European weapons program.
“With or without the support of our allies, we cannot let Russia win. The cost of a Putin victory will be much greater than any savings we can make now,” Von der Leyen asserted with the Ukraine war entering its third year and the US increasingly absent. The financing of these initiatives, through public funds and the mobilization of private capital, will be one of the thorniest issues that the Twenty-Seven will have to decide after the European elections.
“Taking this step together in the field of defense will not be easy, it will require powerful decisions and political courage but, above all, a change of attitude towards European defense on the part of institutions, industry and investors,” the president warned. of the Commission, which called on member states to support greater involvement of the European Investment Bank in this field, although without clarifying whether it is in favor of a change of mandate that allows the institution chaired by Nadia Calviño to invest in development projects of purely military capabilities.
Von der Leyen, who recently announced that she wants to continue and be the candidate of the European People's Party to preside over the next Commission, called for more public and private support for SMEs in the sector and reaffirmed her desire to have a Defense Commissioner in the next executive. “But let's think big and start talking about using the windfall generated by Russian assets frozen in the EU to jointly buy weapons for Ukraine,” she concluded, emphasizing the symbolism such a move would have.
The tone of the parliamentary debate revealed the proximity of the elections. The leader of the European People's Party, Manfred Weber, supported Von der Leyen's proposals and applauded that progressive governments are also “accepting” the new geopolitical reality and opening up to the idea of investing more in defense. “If you want peace, prepare for war,” Weber concluded. The European socialists rather opted for “a more geopolitical Europe” and reproached Von der Leyen for her attitude towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (“António Guterres and Josep Borrell have led by example, their response has been silence after several mistakes”) and they demanded that he not dismantle the legacy of the Green Pact “for a handful of votes.”
