The EU is threatening to cut off weapons from the bloc to the UK as part of their new scheme to prepare for conflict with Russia. The new military strategy was yesterday announced by industry commissioner Thierry Breton.
He said the EU had to look after itself in the event of a “security crisis”. The plan would also work both ways, with EU countries forced to limit the number of weapons they could buy from UK-based firms if they still wanted to receive funds from the bloc’s budget.
It is part of a wider scheme to improve EU security ahead of an increasingly likely war with Russia.
Mr Breton said: “To counter the return of high-intensity war on our border, we have decided to kick up a gear.”
The EU is looking to strengthen its own production of weapons and procurement to limit dependence on the US, according to The Telegraph.
As a result the UK’s ability to import arms and other civilian technologies from the EU could be limited. Josep Borrell, the EU’s leading foreign diplomat, claimed that the bloc exported roughly 40 percent of the ammunitions and weapons it produced.
He added: “We have a powerful industry of defence because we export a lot.
“Certainly when there is a big push on demand, which might happen with a war, we have to ask for extra input.”
The new plans would be enacted if the European Defence Investment Programme declared a “crisis situation”.
For this to happen, all member states would need to vote on it. It would need to be a situation where they faced a security crisis or a shortage of weapons.
EU Commission vice president Margrethe Vestager added that almost 80 percent of the €100 billion the bloc had spent on defence since Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022 was spent outside the EU.
It comes after shadow defence secretary John Healey warned that the UK and Europe cannot rely on the US to underpin its defence in the event of war.
He unveiled plans for a new centralised planning unit within the Ministry of Defence if Labour wins the election later this year.
The plans would include extending the regular term served by the chief of the defence staff – the serving head of UK Armed Forces – from two to four years, to increase continuity.
However Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is said to be rejecting calls to boost money to the Ministry of Defence. Last week, ex-defence secretary Ben Wallace said Britain’s “hollowed-out” military will not be “match-fit” for any approaching conflict, unless the defence spending is increased.
Mr Hunt is understood to be focusing on tax cuts in a plan to grow the economy. Other NATO allies however are believed to be upping their defence spending in the face of potential Russian aggression.
