The campaign for the European elections, which will be held from June 6 to 9, is already underway. Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner (Renew) for the internal market, a portfolio which extends to the defense industry, has put forward an ambitious idea in terms of security: providing Europe with a defense fund of 100 billion euros. ” The European Union [UE] is willing to take risks in this matter”, he assured, Thursday, December 11, to the European press. He therefore suggests to the Twenty-Seven to assign to the next Commission which will emerge from the polls the task of developing such a project.
“If we are serious and the Member States think that the development of our defense is one of the priorities for the years to come, we must give ourselves the means to achieve these ambitions, he said. These 100 billion are necessary, in my opinion, in order to significantly increase our defense industrial base, but also to develop common security infrastructures. »
Between the Russian war of invasion in Ukraine and the difficulties of the United States in maintaining military support for this country, not to mention the prospect of a possible victory of Donald Trump in the American elections in November, European leaders must take into account hand, judge M. Breton.
For a decade, the United States has been demanding that Europe take a greater share of the funding for the defense of the Old Continent, provided since 1949 by NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). At the Vilnius summit in July 2023, the allies – of which twenty-two countries are members of the EU – committed to spending at least 2% of their GDP on defense. According to the latest available data (2022) from the European Defense Agency, Member States invested some 58 billion euros in 2022 to develop their military capabilities, growing by 6%, but only spent on average 1. 5% of their GDP for their armies.
“Ready to take some risks”
In Europe, assures the European Commissioner, “we know how to do everything, fighter planes, aircraft carriers, submarines, tanks, but today, we must increase our industrial base. To do this, we are ready to help companies take certain risks, notably investing in new capabilities, without necessarily immediately having orders from the different armies. “. Traditionally, defense companies only invest once orders are placed and financed.
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