The Deputy Director General of the European Commission's DG GROW, Pierre Delsaux, clarified on Tuesday 7 May the conditions for the participation of non-Member States in the future European Defence Fund, a clarification specifically requested by non-EU NATO members.
“We are talking about helping our industry to grow and become effective in the field of defence”, Delsaux said during a debate at the European Business Summit in Brussels, adding that he was not talking about purchasing equipment from non-Member States. In his view, the comparison should be made with other countries’ efforts in terms of support for capacity development.
The European Commission has proposed that the European Defence Fund be endowed with €13 billion for the 2021-2027 period.
Mr Delsaux detailed the conditions for the participation of a company from a non-Member State. If the company belongs to a foreign investor but is established in the EU, it will be able to participate in the European Defence Fund, provided that it does not belong to “people who are not friends of the EU, who are a threat to the EU”, he explained, citing, for example, North Korea. If the company is entirely non-European, it could participate in a consortium with European companies; this consortium would be eligible for the fund, but the money would not go to the foreign company but to its European partners, according to the deputy director general, who added that this financial contribution would therefore reduce the expenses borne by the consortium.
"It is true that, if we finance something through the fund, we do not want to be subject to non-European export restrictions”, he added, specifying that it should be up to the Member States to define the conditions for exporting equipment.
Similarly, Mr Delsaux made a distinction with regard to the Allies. According to him, Norway, which participates in the European budget, should be a “full member" of the fund, provided that Oslo contributes financially. However, this has “not been formally adopted by the Member States and the European Parliament, as there is a link with the situation in the United Kingdom”, he added.
For his part, NATO's Assistant Secretary General for Defence Investment, Camille Grand, explained that the issue was “politically sensitive”. He reiterated that non-EU NATO members were part of European defence, that their industries were part of the European market and that the defence market had a transatlantic dimension. In his view, it was necessary to clarify the definition of a non-Member State, as the situation differed from one ally to another.
Thus, some, such as Norway and perhaps soon the United Kingdom, are particularly involved in European defence, while others - Montenegro and Albania - aim to join the EU, and a final group - the United States and Canada - will not become members and maintain different relations with EU Member States in terms of the defence industry. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)