On Tuesday 10 October, the European Commissioner for Internal Market and Industry, Thierry Breton, called for an increase in the EU’s defence readiness, stressing the importance of presenting a new European strategy for the defence industry. This should be presented at the beginning of November.
“With the return of high-intensity conflict on the European continent, we have no other choice than drawing up urgently the full consequences to this paradigm change. With a single priority: to increase our ‘defence readiness’ as a strong guarantee of our collective security”, explained Mr Breton at the 3rd European Conference on Defence and Security in Brussels.
The Commissioner explained that the defence industrial ecosystem needed to undergo a genuine conversion at a time when security of supply and the ability to increase production had become essential. What’s more, in his view, we need to continue investing to compensate for chronic underspending.
Mr Breton called for a reshaping of the European Defence Fund. Over and above the need to increase the Fund’s ambition in the next EU budget, because it is “essential to invest in research and development”, the Commissioner believes it is necessary to make the Fund work better. “To avoid the risk of the programme being spread too thinly, we need to introduce coherence, continuity and medium-term programming. In short, to introduce strategic steering of the Fund, with a programming and planning function”, he explained. The budget for the European Defence Fund for 2021-2027 is approaching €8 billion.
The EU also intends to work on preparing the EU for defence. “The time has come to transform the experience gained into a more structural approach to support for the defence industry”, said Mr Breton.
According to the Commissioner, the European Defence Fund needs to be complemented by a downstream programme to consolidate and broaden support for European industry. As part of the new defence industry strategy, the Commission is expected to present an “ambitious” European Defence Investment Programme (EDIP). This programme would follow on from the Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP) and the European Defence Industry Reinforcement through common Procurement Act (EDIRPA).
According to Mr Breton, EDIP would, among other things, establish a regulatory framework to support security of supply and the production of defence equipment - a kind of European defence production law. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)