EU creates new top post to oversee decentralized defense industry

BRUSSELS – A new directorate for defense industry and space has been established in the European Commission, with the position of minister in charge being given to former French defense minister Sylvie Goulard.

As the next European Commissioner for the European Single Market, Goulart will be tasked, in part, with coordinating the EU’s decentralised defence industry in research and development projects.

Some will see the move as a sign that Ursula von der Leyen, the former German defence minister and next European Commission president, wants Europe to take more responsibility for its own defence.

Goulart is due to face a nomination hearing in the European Parliament next month, expected to be a mere formality before he takes up his new role on November 1.

The appointment raises concerns that greater EU integration in the defence sector could spark new turf wars between member states, NATO and the United States.

But a European Commission source said that for Europe to compete globally, “with China predicted to be the world’s second-largest defense spender after the United States by 2025, it needs to assemble and integrate the best defense capabilities.”

Currently, the EU does not have an army and defence remains a matter for member states, but the EU has recently taken major steps to strengthen cooperation.

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The European Commission is proposing a substantial increase in the EU budget for defence and external security: €22.5 billion for 2021-2027, compared with €2.8 billion for 2014-2020. If approved, the proposed seven-year EU budget from 2021 would allocate €13 billion to the European Defense Fund (EDF) to boost cross-border cooperation on defence research and technology projects, a further €6.5 billion for the so-called upgrading of roads, bridges, railways, ports and airports for military mobility, and €16 billion for the space programme.

In recent years, several defence-related initiatives and mechanisms have been established, such as the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), the Cooperative Annual Defence Review (CARD), the European Defence Fund, etc. These initiatives and the proposed increase in funding at EU and national budgetary level can be considered as a “sea change” for European defence.

Concerns about deeper EU integration often come from Britain, which is due to leave the bloc on October 31. Britain has traditionally been a strong critic of increasing Brussels control over defence. Geoffrey van Orden, a former senior British army officer and Conservative MEP, believes the EU is trying to copy NATO’s command structure and “every aspect of NATO”.

“I remain a strong supporter of our defence industry – in the UK, for example, the defence industry is a major strategic contributor, high-tech innovator and employer – but I don’t believe we need European intervention to support them,” he said.

Denis McShane, a former British European secretary, said: “The move towards a coherent European and EU defence policy needs to be driven by member states themselves – it cannot be dictated by Brussels.”