L’UE è divisa sul Regno Unito che si unisce al suo fondo per le armi – e la Francia dice non
The EU is split on UK joining its weapons fund – and France is saying non
di krazydude22
L’UE è divisa sul Regno Unito che si unisce al suo fondo per le armi – e la Francia dice non
The EU is split on UK joining its weapons fund – and France is saying non
di krazydude22
9 commenti
You mean France, the country that demands an 80% share in joint European projects, would deny access to another nation with a strong military industrial complex in Europe that might counterbalance their attempt at dominance? Well stick me in a dress and call me Sally, I’m shocked.
The EU is divided over how close the UK is allowed to be to its new US-proof defence plans as No 10 chases access to a billion-pound weapons fund. The bloc launched an €150bn (£129bn) loan system this year to bolster European defence industries and reduce reliance the US – but British participation in the scheme is not yet clear.
Access to the scheme, called SAFE, is No 10’s main request to France during this week’s Franco-British summit, The i Paper revealed this week.
But European insiders said that debate continues among member states about whether or not to allow third countries including the UK into their defence architecture.
The EU is scrambling to reduce its dependency on the US, after warnings from Donald Trump’s White House that it must take charge of its own security. Member states are attempting to buy European, rather than American, weaponry and bolster production in homegrown defence industries to ensure the continent has enough stocks to defend itself without the US if it came under Russian attack.
New defence scheme aims to wean EU security off US support
The SAFE scheme allows member states to access EU funding for the production of items including ammunition, missiles, drones and air defence systems. To be eligible, the weapon being funded must source at least 65 per cent of its parts from the EU, European Economic Area countries or Ukraine, and the project must involve two or more member countries.
In May, the UK and EU agreed a security and defence pact which the EU said “may open the possibility for UK to participate in specific EU defence initiatives” – but the level of engagement the Brussels is willing to have with London remains unclear.
The EU said that the UK can join “common procurement” projects as part of SAFE, meaning the UK could benefit from cheaper prices through the collective purchase of parts, but indicated that the scheme would not buy from British industry.
Some insiders close to the discussions said the UK would be welcome to participate, providing it paid a substantial fee for access and adhered to any necessary conditions.
The UK is not expected to receive any preferential treatment over any other third country state.
Inside or outside of Europe why do the French bicker with the UK and vice versa? Always friction somewhere.
The main problem is that UK is buying very little weapons from EU countries while EU countries are already buying a significant amount of weapons from UK. While I understand that UK will never buy as many weapons from us than we buy from them, because of how much US system the UK has in its arsenal, I think there should be a deal indicating that UK gets access to these funds just if they agree to gradually reduce its imports from the US and increase its arms imports from the EU.
This is why I can’t take Macron’s “Europe strong” grandstanding seriously. Lots of talk but when it comes to action, he continues to undermine Europe for his own ridiculous interests.
It’s too late now Starmer you bellend, you’ve already given them the fish!
It is necessary to maintain a balance between profit and defense
Perhaps at this stage, the EU needs to be more flexible.
In the future, the balance should shift in favor of Europe, which should be a priority.
Europe : let’s stop depending on the US so much, especially for our weapons systems.
UK : leaves the european union, promises to buy more weapons from the US
UK : can we get EU fundings please ?
France : No
UK : Why are the french so mean ?
Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought this is how the defense fund worked:
First you need to sign a defense treaty with the EU.
Once done, you get access to the fund but any money you use from it needs to be spent on stuff that’s at least 80% manufactured in the EU.
Japan signed on and got access to the fund just fine.
But from what I understand the issue that the UK has is that the money can’t be spent on UK weapons since they aren’t part of the EU anymore and they’d obviously want that money going to their own military industrial complex.
I feel like France is reasonable here. The fund isn’t just meant to help buy weapons but also to boost weapons industries of EU members which the UK isn’t part of anymore.