Tasks (and Limits) of the New European Commissioner for Defense: Ferrata's Perspectives (Rud Pedersen)

Article first appeared in Adnkronos 08-10-2024, translated here 28-10-2024.

In the new European Commission, which still has to pass the hearings at the European Parliament, a new member of weight has burst in, the Commissioner for Defense and Space. The new delegation has been assigned to Andrius Kubilius, former Lithuanian Prime Minister, but his powers and responsibilities are yet to be written. Leaving aside the part on space, on which the EU already has its own history, with Luigi Ferrata, Managing Partner of Rud Pedersen Italy, we focused on the things that could change in the defense sector.

Reading his letter of assignment, Kubilius will have to:
– Increase investment by strengthening the European Defence Fund and implementing the Regulation on Strengthening the European Defence Industry through Joint Procurement (Edirpa) and the Regulation on Support for the Production of Ammunition (Asap).
– Present a White Paper on the future of European defence within the first 100 days of the mandate to identify investment needs and propose a framework for strengthening European defence.
– Implement the EU Space Strategy for Security and Defence.
– Strengthen the single market for defence, including through demand aggregation, joint procurement and support for SMEs.
– Contribute to the creation of dual-use transfer infrastructure corridors for the mobility of military personnel and equipment.
– Lead the creation and implementation of the joint European Air Shield and Cyber Defence projects.
– Implement the European Defence and Industrial Strategy and complete negotiations on the European Defence Industrial Programme.

Interviewer: A vast, vast program. Ferrata, how did we get to this point, to the urgency of providing Europe with a more coordinated defense, which was also one of the main points of Mario Draghi's report?

Luigi Ferrata: “We are arriving at the birth of a Commissioner for Defense in a phase of great uncertainty. First of all, because we know that defense is one of the founding characteristics of a State, at the basis of the contract with citizens. The Union is not a State and there is already the first problem. We have come to talk about European defense for three specific events. The first, the Trump Presidency: for the first time since the post-war period, Europeans are being put in front of their responsibilities (and their contribution) in the field by the United States, no longer depending only on the American ally. The second, the shift of US foreign policy towards the Indo-Pacific region. The third, obviously the Russian invasion of Ukraine which has completely changed the scenarios. And it is no coincidence that the Commissioner was chosen, a Lithuanian, a country that has been subjected to Russian domination for about fifty years and for which Russia is a historical enemy. There is a very specific political direction”.

Interviewer: Let me take a step back: in Europe we have had cases of international collaboration, such as the Eurofighter fighter and the (still to be built) Franco-German tank. In 2017, Pesco was born, a process to strengthen cooperation in this sector. 25 Member States (excluding Denmark and Malta) have joined, agreeing to invest, plan, develop and implement their military capabilities more jointly. Are we succeeding?

Luigi Ferrata: “We have a complex context, in which for example Austria and Malta declare themselves totally neutral. There is talk of European defense, but within the European Parliament there is no specific committee on defense, but rather a subcommittee of Foreign Affairs. There is talk of massive investments in this field, but then it would be time to review the ESG taxonomy, because it will be a problem to finance the defense industry if we do not rethink the criteria that favor green investments and discourage those that are not fully sustainable. And then we need to agree on European procurement, given that at the moment we import about 78% of our defense needs. However, it is difficult to compete with international giants if European competition law prevents the birth of champions”.

Interviewer: In recent months there has also been talk of a NRRP for defense, of a European fund financed with common debt. Draghi also spoke about it. Is it a feasible program in your opinion?

Luigi Ferrata: “It is a central theme that requires common reasoning. We talk about good debt, and that's fine, but the issue is to first understand what is needed to lay the foundations of a European defense industry. The risk is to have a barrage of funding that does not achieve the goal of creating a common security system. And then in these projects a lot of emphasis is given to large armament systems, missiles, air tanks. But we also need to focus on the equipment of soldiers, on light weapons, which are what those who put the boots on the ground need, who are in charge of our collective security".