Macron Urges Europe to Think Twice Before Buying Non-EU Defense

Ania Nussbaum
·3 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- French President Emmanuel Macron called for Europe to come up with a strategy on air defense before looking at purchasing equipment, in a veiled jab at Germany’s plan to buy an anti-missile system possibly with the help of Israeli and US companies.

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“When we’re talking about air defense, it would be wrong to rush on the capacity issue,” Macron said after a meeting with a dozen European defense ministers in Paris. “If we first adopt a capacity-base approach, we end up massively buying what’s available on the shelves, even if it’s useless — and that generally means massive non-European purchases.”

Macron has regularly urged Europe to develop its own defense industry to boost its strategic autonomy and has urged leaders to buy equipment manufactured in the European Union, while pushing back against suggestions he’s promoting a French-dominated defense set-up.

The meeting of the defense ministers in Paris Monday was partly a response to Germany’s European Sky Shield, a push to build a multi-layered, anti-missile shield that could cost as much as €17 billion ($18.5 billion). The Sky Shield is meant to protect Germany as well as neighboring countries from missile attacks. At least 15 countries — mainly within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization — have signed a letter of intent to join the program.

The move first announced by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in August had upset French officials, who privately said they were alarmed that it would rely on US and Israeli systems rather than homegrown solutions.

Ahead of the meeting, officials at the French defense ministry said the German initiative was complementary to Paris’ push to coordinate a wider strategy, including civil defense and nuclear dissuasion.

Macron’s invitation to defense ministers was aimed at finding a common doctrine on air defense, as well as discussing better coordination between NATO anti-ballistic systems and France’s nuclear capability, and intelligence and civil defense needs, according to the French defense ministry.

Combat System

Macron also said Belgium would soon join the Future Combat Air System, or FCAS, developed by France, Germany and Spain. Progress has been slower than expected despite political backing in Paris and Berlin. The companies behind it, France’s Dassault Aviation SA and the German branch of Airbus SE, have been arguing over intellectual property. The FCAS is meant to replace France’s Rafale fighter jets, Germany’s Typhoons and Spain’s EF-18 Hornets.

Macron, who will meet with Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni on Tuesday, added that the anti-missile system SAMP/T, also known as MAMBA, is now fully operational in Ukraine. Manufactured by a consortium of MBDA Italy, MBDA France, and France’s Thales SA, SAMP/T is meant to prevent attacks by cruise and tactical ballistic missiles and military aircraft.

France, Belgium, Cyprus, Hungary and Estonia signed a letter of intent for the joint acquisition of Mistral missiles made by European consortium MBDA, Macron also said.

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