On Thursday 14 March, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned against the risk of competition between the Alliance and the EU as the latter develops its defence policy.
“It is important that of course EU focus on the areas where they actually add value to NATO, but not to compete with NATO when it comes to core responsibilities as defence planning, standard setting and capability targets”, he told the media at the presentation of NATO’s 2023 Annual Report.
Defence planning and the associated capability targets are “NATO’s core responsibility”, stressed the Secretary General. He warned that there could not be two systems setting two different sets of capability targets for the same countries.
Similarly, “we only need one institution setting the standards”, explained Mr Stoltenberg. He added: “NATO standards for interoperability, communications and interchangeability of ammunition, all of that is only one set of standards”.
He also stressed the “very important role” that NATO has to play in joint procurement, recalling that the Alliance’s Support and Procurement Agency had been trying and testing procedures for major joint procurement decisions for decades.
Mr Stoltenberg pointed out that for years the Alliance had been calling on the Europeans to increase their investment in production. He also felt that any efforts by the EU to overcome the fragmentation of the European defence industry would be beneficial to NATO.
The Secretary General also estimated that by 2024, NATO’s allies in Europe will be investing US$470 billion in defence, representing “for the first time 2% of their combined GDP” in defence spending.
Moreover, according to him, this year “two thirds” of the Allies will achieve the 2% target. On Thursday, Norway, Mr Stoltenberg’s home country, announced that it would meet the 2% target this year.
See the 2023 report: https://aeur.eu/f/BBV (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)