Teaming up
A key part of Kubilius’ job is ensuring that Europe’s defense industry, fragmented among many member countries, is better coordinated.
The EU’s new initiative, the €1.5 billion European Defence Industry Programme, is supposed to help accomplish that. However, EU member countries are squabbling over how much access non-EU companies should have to the cash.
Some countries — led by France — want the fund to have a strict Buy European clause, while others, including Poland, the Netherlands and Germany, are open to more flexible eligibility criteria.
Kubilius also favors flexibility. “We need to develop our own industry … and that is not protectionism,” he argued. However, he admitted that many key weapons systems, such as long-range precise strike capabilities, are “simply not produced” in the bloc.
“Definitely, we shall need to procure from the United States or from other partners,” he said, adding: “When we are saying we are buying European that does not mean that we shall not go around to look for some kind of weapons which we simply are not producing or producing in too small quantities.”
The EU’s new get-tough approach to Russia also means a much closer relationship with NATO. Although both institutions are headquartered in Brussels, they’ve traditionally had an arms-length relationship with each other, with the alliance looking after military issues while the EU focuses on trade and regulation.
