It is a halftone victory for the European Union. SAFE, the new financing tool intended to support the joint purchases of military equipment, and EDIP, its industrial counterpart, were validated at the end of June. But to look more closely, the two texts leave a bitter taste, especially in Paris. Behind the scenes, France, which pleaded for a more marked European preference, saw its red lines exceeded. “It’s a French defeat, a new traffic”regrets a tricolor industrialist.
SAFE, adopted on May 27 at the end of the European Union Council, allows the EU states to borrow up to 150 billion euros on advantageous conditions to finance common purchases. But the devil hides in details: the text allows up to 35 % of non-European components in funded equipment, thus largely opening the door to American, British or other subcontractors. Clearly: Europe pays, but its competitors take advantage of it.
Reduced States Freedom
Also, the rules of industrial governance, supposed to guarantee a form of technical sovereignty, are relaxed. The principle of Authority designwhich gives a European industrialist mastering a complex program, is only required in very limited cases. Missiles and ammunition, however domains of excellence for French MBDA, are excluded from the protected perimeter. Result: whole sections of French industry are delivered to competition. Airbus, for its part, has managed to save the sectors of strategic transport and flight supply. But these arbitrations leave a bitter taste: the texts do not set any clear calendar to strengthen a “European preference”just promising its application … “As soon as the conditions allow”.
For EDIP, the minimum European content criterion was set at only 65 %, and again: this figure does not concern the finished product, but the sum of the components. In other words, up to 35 % of equipment funded by European taxpayer will be able to come from third countries. Clearly from the United States. “Last January, the Minister of the Armed Forces said:” It is better not to agree than a bad agreement. ” There he accepts this deal at 65-35 ”regrets another important actor in French defense.
Clearly, Europe pays, but its competitors benefit
With its reset needs as well as the new objective set by NATO to invest 5 % of GDP in favor of defense and security in 2035, France seems ready to play the game. With projects envisaged in artillery or Sol-Air defense, Paris wants to build its defense and hopes to capture up to 30 billion euros out of the 150 that SAFE provides. A final decision must be notified to the Commission by the end of July.
Beyond industry, it is also the policy desired by the European Commission that worries. An evolution is looming: via the omnibus defense directive published on June 17, Brussels would consider“Europeanize” Control of arms exports-a competence of the States so far-to lock who can sell what, to whom. The stake? “Take control of military equipment exports as soon as Europe will contribute to their funding and thus reduce the freedom of states”analyzes an expert. He concludes: “By accepting to place whole sections of its sovereignty under European control-itself porous to the influences of foreign lobbies-, France may well lose what made its singularity from De Gaulle. »» Thus, the French exception in matters of defense could vacillate, in the name of European cohesion which, in fact, seems above all to benefit American industrialists.
