Western Europe’s industrial might is dwarfed by Russia’s.
While the European Union moves to boost its military-industrial complex, it remains to be seen how successful these efforts are going to be.
Months after they started funneling weapons and munitions to Ukraine, EU states came to the startling realization that they can’t hold a candle to Russia’s armament production.
In an apparent bid to address this problem, the European Commission (EC) this week has proudly unveiled the “first-ever” European Defense Industrial Strategy (EDIS) and “proposed an ambitious set of new actions to support the competitiveness and readiness” of the EU defense industry, according to a statement posted on the EC website.
The strategy in question aims to “mobilize” some €1.5 billion ($1.63 billion) of EU funds during 2025-2027 to “continue enhancing the competitiveness,” the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB) in an effort to ensure the “defense industrial readiness” in Europe.
While these plans to ramp up weapon and munition productions in Europe are hardly surprising, there are several factors that may make the effort problematic.
– While €1.5 billion is a lump sum of money, it is hardly enough for such an undertaking. In January, European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton argued for the necessity of a €100 billion defense fund to boost Europe’s military-industrial capacity.
– The EC plan mentions fostering closer cooperation with Ukraine “through its participation in Union initiatives in support of defense industry and stimulating cooperation between the EU and Ukrainian defense industries.” It is not immediately clear, however, how exactly military-industrial projects might fare in Ukraine where they will likely be immediately targeted by Russian air and missile strikes. Ukraine’s ability to participate in weapon procurement together with other EU states also seems a bit suspect in light of the dismal state of the Ukrainian economy.
– The European initiative may come into conflict with NATO’s plans, Politico has suggested, noting that the military bloc’s leaders have already agreed on the so-called Defense Production Action Plan in 2023. “If this new unveiled strategy is seen as complementary it’s one thing, but if it’s seen as contradictory [with NATO’s], that could be a bit of a political problem,” the media outlets quoted a former NATO official Robert Pszczel as saying.
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