From Covid to cannons: EU Commission pitches using unspent Covid funds for defence industry

Pic.: medium.com

The European Commission wants to use unspent pandemic recovery money to boost defence industry production and fund weapons purchases by EU armies under a proposal revealed on Wednesday, in what would be a major shift in budget priorities. The proposal is the latest example of the European Commission seeking to channel funds originally intended for civilian use towards defence, Euractiv notes.

Funds from the EU's Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) “could support voluntary national contributions to the future European Defence Industry Programme”, also known as EDIP, according to a newly published communication from the Commission.

The EDIP programme aims to help the European defence industry permanently increase production capacity by encouraging joint military procurement deals from multiple EU countries. Armaments manufacturers have been arguing that long-term financial security from major orders would help drive necessary investments.

Wednesday's proposal builds off recent efforts by some EU countries to use Covid funds to invest in security instead of sustainability or digitalisation.

Just last week, the Commission approved Poland’s €6 billion national recovery plan that includes some defence projects.

The Commission is now once again proposing that countries channel EU funds initially intended for civilian and social use toward defence.

The Commission is now looking to add at least some of the remaining €335 billion in the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which expires at the end of 2026. The Commission did not specify how much of that remaining money would go to EDIP.

The RRF was created in 2021 to help European economies survive and recover from the pandemic, and was initially funded with €650 billion for grants and loans.

In Wednesday's communication, the Commission asked EU countries and the European Parliament to include a new clause allowing the Covid funds to go toward EDIP in the negotiated text.

At the moment, the EDIP proposal is stuck in negotiations between EU member states. An agreement may still be far away, since the EDIP legislation would have a major long-term impact on the shape of the European defence market, a politically charged issue.

Euractiv has learned that EU ambassadors are set to discuss it once more early next week.

They made a “mistake”, or perhaps even stole (von der Leyen case) billions of euros with Covid.  Now it looks like they are going to make another “mistake” with the rest of funds under the false slogan of strengthening defense?

read more in our Telegram-channel https://t.me/The_International_Affairs