MEPs have urged the EU Commission to create a single market for defence as part of the bloc’s attempts to increase integration of a multi-billion euro industry that is at the heart of Europe’s plans to better defend itself.
At the European Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg on Wednesday (11 March), lawmakers called for the bloc’s defence procurement law to be re-written, and the creation of dedicated joint fund for innovative defence ideas to allow them to grow to scale, and to avoid them relying on foreign investors.
They also urged the EU executive to propose a law allowing mutual recognition of certification for defence equipment.
“We need to create a European ecosystem for defence,” said Tobias Cremer, a German Socialists & Democrats MEP, pointing to data in Mario Draghi’s report on the EU’s competitiveness which suggests that EU states currently pay 30 percent above the market value for defence kit sourced outside the EU.
The alternative, said Cremer, was that “we can continue to pay more for less and keep defence out of the single market.”
“People understand that we need to spend more on defence,” he said, adding that it was “in European governments interest to have a single market on defence.”
Russia’s war against Ukraine, now into its fourth year, and the wars in the Middle East and belligerence of the US Trump administration, and its ambivalence towards Nato, have forced the EU and national governments to prioritise defence and security.
EU defence commissioner Andrius Kubilius has promised to draw up a blueprint on the arms industry later this year and Ursula von der Leyen’s commission has already set up set up the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) programme, which will offer up to €150bn in long maturity loans to EU countries to boost their defence spending up to two percent of GDP.
Canada ‘most European country not in EU’
The project also features a defence procurement scheme worth up to €800bn, which is designed to encourage EU countries, and outside countries such as Canada and, potentially, the UK, to work on jointly producing and purchasing equipment.
But MEPs argue that there are other structural weaknesses to the European defence market and that the EU should favour a ‘Buy European‘ approach to defence procurement.
For example, Cremer told reporters, Nato cannot currently share technical standards on equipment with the EU because it does not have a cooperation agreement with the bloc.
The commission has also negotiated a series of cooperation agreements on defence with nine countries, including Canada.
In a separate report on Wednesday, MEPs said that the the EU should beef up its relations with Ottawa, particularly on security and defence.
The EU’s trade pact with Canada, which came into force in 2017, is already one of its most comprehensive, and EU officials are seeking to broker extra pillars on digital trade and defence.
“Our geopolitical alignment is here to stay,” said Cremer, who described Canada as the “most European country outside the EU”.
“If geography was different, Canada might already be in the EU,” said Cremer, though he played down the idea of Canada joining the EU as a “fantasy”.
For his part, fellow social democrat, Spanish MEP Javier Moreno Sanchez, told reporters that Canada felt “betrayed” by its long-time ally and neighbour, the United States. “They choose Europe,” he added.