In an unstable global geopolitical context, including the conflict between Israel and Hamas and the war in Ukraine, the European Union is currently in negotiations for a €500 billion fund to invest in common defense.
“France has always invested a lot in its European defense issues,” explains Thierry Carlier, deputy director general of the Directorate General of Armaments (DGA), on Monday, December 9 on BFM Business. This new fund, which could be created next year, would serve “to strengthen the European defense industry” and “to support our defense manufacturers, in order to consolidate a technical and industrial base”, indicates Thierry Carlier.
Use a European loan to finance this project
To finance this project, one of the options would be to resort to a European loan, as the European Union did to finance its recovery plan after Covid-19. But the new European Defense Commissioner, Andrius Kubilius, does not seem particularly enthusiastic about the idea, because “it would make everyone nervous,” he explained to AFP.
Several countries, such as Germany and the Netherlands, oppose the European Union going into debt again. The idea would therefore be to “convince Member States to borrow now up to 500 billion euros, which they could repay over several years, thanks to the money provided anyway to meet NATO’s new demands”, he explained.
“We need to move from what some call a gradual approach to increasing our defense capabilities to a big bang approach,” in order to respond to possible Russian aggression, stressed the former Lithuanian prime minister. Thierry Carlier (DGA), for his part, asked to be “vigilant” so that “European solutions are defended and developed rather.”
The 23 European member countries of NATO have committed to devoting at least 2% of their gross domestic product (GDP) to military spending. Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine in February 2022, member countries have increased their defense budgets by 30%.
Source: BFM TV
