At a press conference on Wednesday 29 January, the EPP coordinator on the European Parliament’s Committee on Security and Defence, Nicolás Pascual de la Parte (Spanish), emphasised European preference in defence when European funding is used.
“There is a principle called ‘European preference’. If it’s European taxpayers’ money, there has to be a European preference. This does not mean closing the door to our partners, but our products should have at least a percentage of European components”, he explained. “It’s not a question of excluding anyone, but of putting European money into European projects”, he added.
With the White Paper on defence due on 19 March, Mr Pascual de la Parte felt that there was a “sense of urgency” about defence funding.
He explained that it was not a question of figures, “2 or 3 or 5%” - especially as the States do not include the same elements in the calculation of defence spending - but of deciding on capability objectives and the means of achieving them.
The MEP felt that the idea of Eurobonds for defence should be explored. In his view, certain states could decide to form a coalition of the willing and do the right thing together.
He explained that he “was not really” in favour of exempting the defence from EU tax rules. “This opens a Pandora’s box. Why not exclude health and schools?”, he asked. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)