“After the fall of the Berlin Wall”, the EU thought it was “surrounded by a ring of friends”, but found itself “surrounded by a ring of fires and instability“. This was underlined by the EU High Representative Josep Borrell, speaking at the Europe Forum in Brussels and focusing on the current international framework, dominated by the war between Ukraine and Russia. “The prospect of high-intensity conventional warfare is no longer a fantasy: we must naturally do everything to avoid it, but to deter we need means commensurate with the purpose.
In Ukraine today “the situation is extremely difficult. The Russian military machine marches at full speed: with considerable costs, but at full speed”, underlines Borrell. Between Russia and Ukraine, he observes, “there is an absolute asymmetry”, because Moscow “can maintain a prolonged war of attrition”, giving “the impression of winning” , while Kiev “needs to win in order not to lose”.
“States do not want a European army”
EU member states “have armies. We in Brussels don’t have an army. And we won’t have a European army tomorrow. States are the masters of defense policies. I have personally heard some Heads of State and Government tell the Commission ‘we do not want a transfer of defense competences to the Union'”, said the EU High Representative. “Defence – he continued – is a prerogative of national sovereignty and they do not want further transfers of sovereignty in this field. But we must ensure that each country works and commits to the objective of spending equal to “2%” of GDP dedicated to defense.
“We are far from that objective, but that number does not say everything, because it is too synthetic: defense spending can also be increased by increasing military pensions, but this does not increase defense capacity. You can also spend more by doing more research and development or building industrial plants.”
Among states, Borrell observed, the tendency to localize the production of weapons at a national level is still very much alive: EU states want to be able to produce the weapons necessary for the defense of the country, because “you never know”. It is something that causes the “fragmentation” of defense production in Europe, unlike what happens on the other side of the Atlantic. In Brussels “there is no Pentagon” that centralizes purchases: in the USA, whether an industrial plant that produces weapons “is located in Ohio, Nevada or Miami makes no difference”. In Europe it’s a completely different matter.
“EU too dependent on US for weapons”
The European Union suffers from a “strong dependence” on the United States of America in terms of armaments and this is something it cannot allow if it wants to be “responsible”. “Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine – says Borrell – 80% of all weapons purchased in Europe were bought from suppliers who produce outside our borders. And 80% of this 80% comes from the USA. Well, that’s a strong addiction. We cannot afford it – he concludes – if we really want to be responsible”.
