Saragossa, 26/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - At the informal meeting of EU Defence Ministers on 23 March in Saragossa (see EUROPE of 23 March, p.7), the Spanish Presidency presented a document defining the possible guidelines for a "European armaments policy". The aim is to develop synergies and the effectiveness of defence spending and to find new forms of financing and cooperation for common needs, explained Spanish Defence Minister Federico Trillo, after discussions on EU military capabilities. "No one said it is necessary to increase the share of defence spending compared to the GDP", was his argument, specifying that: "we do not have to determine the level of Member State spending. This is a decision that is not up to the Defence Ministers, but the government". Ministers, together with CFSP High Representative Javier Solana and NATO Secretary General George Robertson, acknowledged the fact that a financial effort will be necessary to fill the gaps in joint military capabilities. Several Member States, such as Belgium and Italy in particular, nonetheless stressed that the stability criteria must be respected without putting taxes up.
Javier Solana said an effort must be made on the budgetary side, and that interesting ideas have been developed on how to use resources in a more relevant way. He said he felt that decisions could be taken at the formal Council. He noted in passing that there is a contradiction between public opinion which calls on the EU to be more present on the international scene but which grumbles about investing in defence.
The Ministers gave a positive welcome to the idea of creating a working group that will reflect on new ways for financing capabilities, said Federico Trillo. Work will, moreover, continue within the sixteen groups created to implement the action plan on the development of military capabilities adopted at the Laeken Summit. The Netherlands suggested that the candidate countries should be associated to these groups, and called for the defence ministers to be consulted before the report by these groups is submitted to the Seville Summit. France was to present a document this week allowing a list to be drawn up of Member State contributions, according to technical modalities similar to those used at NATO. The Spanish Presidency states it is willing to take such suggestions on board.
Guidelines for European armaments policy
Reflection will continue on the definition of a common armaments policy, on the basis of the document presented by Spain, in which ten "principles" are set out. These principles state that: - armaments policy must be placed at the service of the European common defence policy and not the other way round ("as could have been the case in certain Member States where industrial policy is determined by the needs and interests of their industry"); - the principles of voluntary participation, transparency and coordination with other organisations, such as NATO ("while keeping relations with the United States in mind") must be used as a basis; - a medium and long-term methodology should be used to fill the gaps (coordination of calls for tenders and the launching of new programmes); - operational requirements (to take advantage of large-scale savings, and prevent duplication) should be harmonised; - appropriate compatibility criteria need to be defined to finance armaments investment (Spain especially hopes to review the SEC-95 system taken up by Eurostat for assessing deficit, which puts armaments in the category of "intermediary consumer products"); - research and development efforts must be coordinated (to avoid dispersion and promote dual use technologies); - a European Armaments Agency must in time be created (which would be an umbrella body for the existing bodies such as the WEU-inherited OCCAR (Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation); - there must be promotion of the pooling of arms between several Member States (possibly under an umbrella agency); - mergers between enterprises should be fostered (in a way that prevents duplication without preventing competition); - and the role of National Armaments Directors' meetings must be specified.