Common weapons market “would boost Europe’s defence industry”

Date: 16/01/03

By Dana Spinant in Athens

THE European Union should create a common market for armaments to help its beleagured defence industry catch up with the free-spending US, according to Greek Defence Minister Yiannos Papantoniou.

He said a common defence market would be one of his country's major objectives during its six-month term at the helm of the EU presidency. "If this plan materialises, it will bring enormous advantages," he announced after a meeting between Greek ministers and the members of the European Commission last Friday (10 January).

Greece will seek to reinforce links between EU defence policy and the industry.

The sector has been hit by declining defence budgets in many member states and fragmentation of the market. Moreover, European countries do not always buy local defence products. Poland's decision to buy the American F-16 instead of the Eurofighter was seen as the latest example of European governments' lack of faith in their own armaments' industry.

Papantoniou plans to boost links with industry in two areas: research and a common armaments market.

The EU should finance research, particularly in airspace and other fields which serve a dual civil and military purpose, he said.

The US spends four times more than Europe on defence-related research and more public and private money is needed to patch the technology gap between the two sides of the Atlantic, he warned.

The progressive setting up of a common market in defence could start with a European armaments' agency, Papantoniou said.

The creation of such an agency, proposed by France and Germany, has however split the Convention on the future of the EU, which debated ways of strengthening European defence last December.

With some member states reluctant to go down this path, it follows that an armaments agency could only be launched by a group of countries willing to deepen integration in this area through closer cooperation.

According to a Franco-German paper on defence unveiled last November, more ambitious countries could establish a Eurodefence group, which would, among other things, pool their defence procurement through an agency.

The Greek defence minister also urged the EU to develop its capacity to defend itself through a mutual defence clause.

This commitment, similar to Article 5 in the NATO Charter, which states that an attack on one member is an attack on all, is only a long-term objective, he admitted.

At present the EU is both unable and unwilling to defend its own territory as a whole.

The European Union should create a common market for armaments to help its beleaguered defence industry catch up with the free-spending US, according to Greek Defence Minister Yiannos Papantoniou.