On Wednesday 7 June, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and European Commission Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness Jyrki Katainen announced the launch of a European Defence Fund.
The fund comprises two parts. The first covers research. The Commission provides for €90 million from the European budget for the next three years (€25 million for this year, €40 million for 2018 and €25 million for 2019). It counts on €500 million per year for the next budget framework. "This is the first time that defence-related research is financed by the European budget", Katainen said, announcing the launch, the same day, of the first call for tenders.
The second part of the fund covers capacities – in other words, development and acquisition, and prototypes. The Commission wants to dedicate €500 million for 2019 and 2020, then €1 billion per year after 2020. In the Commission's view, this programme will mobilise national funding and will have an expected fivefold multiplying effect. It could, then, generate total investment of €5 billion per year after 2020. "For every euro we put into the development of a project, €4 will come from the member states", a European source stated. Only projects involving at least three companies from at least two member states will be eligible. Every company in a consortium must be checked with at least 50% of European capital. "The governments will have to have clearly indicated that they are ready to buy the final product. We don't want to lose money", Katainen stated. The Commission is also ready to provide technical support in the product acquisition phase.
Launch of a public debate on the future of European defence. Alongside the launch of this fund, the Commission has launched a public debate on the future defence approach of an EU with 27 member states. In its reflection paper, which is expected to feed the debate, the Commission proposes three scenarios for strengthening European security and improving European defence capacity by 2025.
In the first scenario, which focuses on security and defence cooperation, the member states would cooperate more often, on a voluntary case-by-case basis, and the EU would continue to supplement the national efforts. The second scenario, on shared security and defence, is based on member states pooling certain financial and operational resources for increased solidarity in the area of defence. The third scenario, meanwhile, is the most ambitious, dealing with common security and defence, and providing for the progressive definition of an EU common defence policy. The EU would be able to conduct high intensity security and defence operations, by building on a more proactive integration of member state defence forces. "It's not about replacing or doubling up on NATO", Mogherini nevertheless stated, adding that the Commission had not planned a negative scenario – in other words, a step backwards to cooperation between member states in terms of security and defence. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)