During the EDA’s yearly conference, she anticipated some key points of the Commission’s upcoming European Defence Industrial Strategy
Four years later expressing her willingness to transform the EU into a geopolitical union, Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen renamed what has been labelled a “peace project” for decades into a “security project.”
“We always say that our Union was born as a peace project. And yes, this is right. But peace requires security. And that is why our Union was also born as a security project,” she said at the EDA’s annual conference on 30 November in Brussels.
In the four years of her mandate, threats have multiplied across the Union, leading to a gradual change to the traditional refusal of Brussels to deal with defence issues – which remains member states’ competence. New policies have been created, and new mechanisms have been developed to help the defence industry and provide weapons and training to Ukraine.
While collective defence remains the primary responsibility of the Member States and NATO, a “strategic Union” still has “strategic responsibilities,” she explained. These include continuing to support Ukraine and preparing to “play a role in all the theatres […] near or far.” To this end, she urged, the industry has to be strengthened, and countries need to “spend more, spend better and spend together.”
Regarding this point, during her speech, the Commission’s top official also unveiled key points for the upcoming European Defence Industrial Strategy, which included, for instance, suggestions for having expenses in defence in the national public debts.
Another point she mentioned was the need for more strategic planning beyond the already existing EU instruments and joint programming.
She also called for simplified rules. EU legislation regarding defence has been criticised for not being clear enough. “In the consultation phase of our Strategy, we will ask our industry how we can best support it. We need an updated regulatory framework to give the industry and Member States predictability and coherence on a continental scale,” von der Leyen said.
Another key point of the Strategy will be the need to maximise the “dual-use potential.” The reason behind that is likely also linked to the willingness to indirectly widen the scope of some funds, such as Horizon, which is currently only for ‘peaceful’ projects.
The EC President also spoke about mobilising public and private funding. While a “suite” of funding instruments is already available, “we must explore all possible ways to reward, incentivise, and compensate costs of cooperation and industrial competitiveness. The Strategy will do so, including by suggesting new funding possibilities.” For instance, she mentioned possible adequations of the EU budget and broader use of other EU instruments such as the EDF and ASAP, but also possible VAT exemptions as well as further support from the European Investment Bank.
