France and Germany clash over ‘buy EU’ weapons
France and Germany clash over ‘buy EU’ weapons
Berlin says new €150bn funding for defence industry should be open to non-EU partners, but Paris disagrees
Archive: https://archive.is/2025.03.08-050706/https://www.ft.com/content/76937db3-0b3b-44d4-9005-9709512acd53
A proposed €150bn injection into the EU’s defence industry has become a new flashpoint in a long-standing battle between France and Germany over the continent’s rearmament drive and whether it should include countries outside the bloc.
Spooked by US President Donald Trump’s threats to end generations of American protection, Europe has pledged to increase defence spending dramatically and scale up their domestic capabilities that have withered since the cold war.
Last week the European Commission proposed to raise €150bn that would be lent to capitals to boost their military production. While the broad idea has received unanimous political backing, the details are still being fleshed out, with heavy lobbying over whether the cash could be spent on arms made outside the bloc.
TLDR: They didn't clash, but merely shared their insights, which were actually quite similar.
The insight we needed. Thank you.
From now on, I'm only buying Saab Gripen fighter jets for my family at Christmas.
I'll race you on my Rafale..
American engine so it's not a viable option for obvious reasons unfortunatly. Eurofighter or rafale is more european I guess or are they bad too?
Including foreign producers keeps the local ones honest, otherwise they will overcharge even worse than usual.
It would be probably best to just use some of the money to nationalize a few local producers instead if you really want to push for local production only. But obviously you will not read about that option in the Financial Times.
Maybe publicly include them, but then only buy "local" - that way the offers stay fair and you get the best of both deals!
Well, you need to be a bit smarter about it, otherwise the bidders will know about your plan to buy only local and ripp you off anyways. It's very hard as a state to keep such ideas secret.
This question changes a lot depending on if the non-EU partner in question is the US or a country like South Korea
I'm all for supporting local markets, but in the grand scheme I find it a bit pointless, when there's absolutely no plan or intention from anyone to deescalate the situation. I guess that's the point, so big bucks can be made, but I can't help being a romantic and hoping for long term peace
It's easier to negotiate for peace when you've more guns than the idiot on the other side who only understands strength.
The only way to deescalate is to arm ourselves to the teeth. The only language Putin understands is the language of strength and ignoring that can only lead to more war. Economically this is going to be a major stimulus which Europe really needs at the moment, especially Germany with their failing industries. My main worry on long term peace would be what happens to military output capacity once it’s no longer needed but we’re mostly concerned about survival. There should be also more discussion on profit redistribution so that we don’t increase wealth inequality even more with this stimulus.
It's not that I don't understand the logic. It's that I don't believe scare tactics lead to peace. I agree that short term I it might scare of Putin, and that's obviously good, but it's a bandaid, not a solution, and one that, IMHO, is not easy to get away from.
Also, I find it sad that whenever someone mentions peace he gets ratioed and called a Putin apologist (not here but I see it a lot).
It is possible to want peace and still be against Putin. I get that it's a sensitive topic and intense times, but we just keep alienating and polarizing more and more people. We need a better approach.