EU countries 'wasting' money on separate defence policies

The case for a more deeply integrated European Union defence industry is "overwhelming" because the policies pursued by individual member states are fragmented, insufficient to meet future challenges, and a waste of taxpayers' money, it has been claimed.

An opinion adopted yesterday by the European Economic and Social Committee – a consultative body made up of representatives from employers' organisations, trade unions and other interest groups – calls for the development of a "proper EU defence umbrella".

The focus on increasing financial coordination and completing the single market that has arisen from the economic crisis should be replicated in the defence sector, the report suggests. It says an updated EU policy is needed to meet the twin challenges of cuts to European defence budgets and rising spending in the BRICs: Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Dutch rapporteur Joost van Iersal said: "While certain third countries raise their defence expenditure, we cannot continue wasting time with separate research programmes or defence strategies. The EU goal should be clear: a common defence policy, a common research programme and a shared defence production."

The report is critical of EU countries with major defence production capacities – including France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain and Sweden – for failing to come up with "any viable proposal for rationalisation or consolidation". It claims that the arguments for an improved EU strategy are "overwhelming" and only a "matter of political will".

"Defence policy is shaped by countries' strategic interests, perceived threats and political objectives, which in Europe are mainly defined in national terms," the report says. "Obsolete approaches visibly lead to increasing fragmentation, gaps, overcapacity and a lack of interoperability in European defence capabilities."

Europeans have a "right to be adequately protected", it adds. "Future proof European armaments are increasingly needed. To that end current isolated practices of member states are completely insufficient as well as wasting taxpayers' money." The Libya conflict had made gaps in available weapons systems "painfully clear", according to the document.

To maintain a strong security and defence industry, the bloc needs a radical change in mindset and policies based on shared national and EU competences, it says. "Stagnation has led to national approaches and emphasis on national production. There is a certain renationalisation. Europe-based industrial companies are all focusing on export markets. There is no common strategic concept, neither among governments nor among industrial partners."

The report identifies research and development as particularly vulnerable to government cutbacks. "State of the art R&D is crucial for the development of new generation armaments that are badly needed [and] further strengthening of the technological and industrial basis of European defence must be planned as much as possible. To that end satisfactory measures at EU-level are necessary."

In Europe 50 per cent of defence spending goes on manpower, compared with just 25 per cent in the United States. The report suggests closer coordination between the European Commission, the European Defence Agency, and other stakeholders.

But it warns: "Cuts in R&D spending would directly affect a generation of researchers and qualified employees. If Europe does not succeed, industries may disappear, jobs will be lost and know-how will evaporate, leaving Europe at the mercy of others. A sense of urgency and action is needed among those who care for Europe and European security."

At the moment rising defence spending in the BRICs creates opportunities for European exporters, but the report questions how long that will last. "It is realistic to expect that emerging powers will start to build up their industry independently of western industries, and, subsequently, that they, as Europe's future competitors in third-country markets, will increasingly block imports from western countries."

It adds: "As no single country has sufficient resources available to fund new generation armaments, it is necessary to mix national and European goals as well as national and European resources, financially as well as industrially."