On 19 March, the European Commission and the High Representative presented the White Paper for European Defence – Readiness 2030, together with a defence package that puts forward concrete proposals to unlock the massive, additional 800 billion euro of defence spending announced under the ReArm Europe Plan.
The White Paper for European Defence – Readiness 2030 can be read here
Using the new, dedicated financial instrument ‘SAFE’, the Commission will raise up to €150 billion on the capital markets and provide Member States (MS) with loans that will be disbursed on the basis of national plans. Ukraine, EFTA/EEA countries, acceding, candidate and potential candidate countries, as well as those that have signed a Security and Defence Partnership with the EU (like Japan and South Korea), will have access to the funding, and it will be possible to buy from their industries. For the moment, the United States (US) and the United Kingdom are excluded, but the latter is currently negotiating a partnership.
The loans will finance joint projects by two or more MS, as the Commission is aiming to create an EU-wide defence industry. It also sets a minimum threshold that 65% of the components eligible for funding must be European. Joint ventures producing US military equipment in the EU could potentially be excluded. IndustriAll Europe stresses the need for a thorough impact assessment before putting such measures in place.
In addition, the Commission also followed through on activating the National Escape Clause, which would allow defence investments of up to 1.5% of GDP to be exempt from the revised fiscal rules’ public spending limits. The exemption is valid over a period of four years, which is extendable.
Judith Kirton-Darling, industriAll Europe’s General Secretary, said: “The European Commission seems to be having its ‘whatever it takes’ moment on defence. Despite the grim situation that industrial workers are facing, with daily restructuring, site closures, investment postponements and stalled demand, because of the cost-of-living crisis and austerity policies, the only new funding instrument presented so far during this new mandate is ‘SAFE’. Moreover, the escape clause has only been triggered for defence spending, while investments in the clean, digital and social objective of the EU remain wishful thinking under the fiscal straitjacket.”
“But the Commission doesn’t stop here”, continues Judith Kirton-Darling. “The Cohesion Funds that actually aimed at reducing inequality and fostering upward convergence, are now also redirected towards defence. The European Investment Bank is doubling its annual investment to 2 billion euro for defence. The Savings and Investment Union is also to support channelling additional private investments towards defence. And, if all this is not enough, the Commission already announced its readiness to explore additional funding, including through the European Stability Mechanism and under the upcoming MFF, which is announced to include a robust framework on defence.”
“Since the ReArm Europe announcement, we have been stressing that our external security depends on our internal strength, which relies on economic security, underpinned by social stability. Strengthening Europe’s security must go beyond military spending and must include a wider understanding of economic security. Industrial workers are extremely anxious about their futures – this is evident in the ballot boxes across Europe. But this continues to fall on politicians’ deaf ears”, concluded Kirton-Darling.
The simplification obsession continues also in the White Paper, with a ‘Defence Omnibus’ to be presented by June 2025. The Commission is to immediately launch a Strategic Dialogue with the defence industry. The European Defence Agency and EU Military Staff are to be invited. Meanwhile, the social partners are completely forgotten.
“We find it unacceptable that social dialogue and the social partners are completely bypassed in the White Paper”, said Isabelle Barthès, Deputy General Secretary of industriAll Europe. “Commission President von der Leyen has said that “social dialogue is the way we do things in Europe”. Why should the defence sector be an exception? Europe can only be strong externally if we are strong internally. We therefore need a united Europe, and this starts by involving social partners. We call upon the Commission to include the social partners in the Strategic Dialogue, as they are the ones that best know the reality of the defence industry and of its workers.”
Isabelle Barthès continued: “The Commission aims to get Europe’s defence sector ‘ready’ by 2030, but the workers who are supposed to do this only got a mention of two -paragraphs in the 23-page White Paper, while their representatives are completely left out.
The interests of workers in the arms industry need to be defended like any other workers. They have to be involved through their trade union representatives. The decades-long lack of investment in the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB) and its workforce, which led to skills shortages, an ageing workforce, and difficulties attracting new workers, cannot be resolved overnight. Under no circumstances should the EU’s new defence ambitions come at the expense of workers’ rights.”
In our recently adopted Warsaw Declaration, we are calling for an EU defence industrial policy which invests in workers and ensures good quality industrial jobs for all, while stressing the need to end armed conflicts worldwide.
While we agree on investments in European defence production after decades of under investment, we insist that EU initiatives on defence or security should not come at the expense of social progress, workers’ rights, working conditions, and investments in the twin transition.
IndustriAll Europe’s Warsaw Declaration: webnews EN FR DE