In recent weeks, the tone has been rising between the American authorities and the European Union. In question, the restrictions placed by the Europeans on the financing granted by the PESCO[efn_note]Permanent Structured Cooperation[/efn_note] program, the FED[efn_note]European Defense Fund[/efn_note] program and the PEDID[efn_note]Program European Defense Industrial Development[/efn_note], which require that companies that claim to be effectively owned by European interests. In fact, large American companies, but also British companies after Brexit, are excluded.
And this is not to the taste of the US authorities who, through its ambassador to the European Union, Gordan Sodland, and in line with Donald Trump's negotiating methods, have given until June 10 to the EU to “rethink its copy”, otherwise the United States would put in place “protectionist” measures to prevent European companies from accessing the US market. The threat, in addition to its very undiplomatic aspect, also rings a little hollow, to the extent that, as Laurent Lagneau points out in his article, the reciprocal is already in place in the United States… since 1933!
In any case, and despite the more Americanophile positions of certain countries such as Sweden, which participates with Boeing in the TX program to replace the T38s of the US Air Force, or the Netherlands, traditionally very attached to the United States , the response from the vice-president of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini, was not long in coming. On the occasion of a press conference on May 14, she made a point of explaining that the United States already benefited from 81% of the Defense import contracts awarded by European states, and that the European programs did not in any way constitute a "Buy European Act", but a structured tool to increase the development capabilities of European defense industries, so as to strengthen the defense capabilities of its members, and therefore to be able to increase their participation in collective defense, as requested by NATO.
However, and even if the method used by the US ambassador is largely questionable, the American “demand” does not lack foundations. Indeed, today, Europe relies largely on the United States for its defense, particularly in the face of the rise of Russian military power. The US armies provide a large part of the reinsurance forces in the Baltic countries, Poland and Romania. They maintain more than 120.000 men in Europe, and nearly 120 combat aircraft, i.e. a number greater than the German armed forces, even though they are the largest country on the continent. They have just re-activated the 2nd Fleet, to maintain a permanent naval presence in the North Atlantic and Europe, and are currently negotiating to deploy a permanent armored brigade to Poland. In other words, the United States is massively involved in the defense of the old continent.
Certainly, this deployment of forces gives Washington crucial weight within NATO, as in EU affairs. Certainly, European countries purchase nearly €10 billion per year of defense equipment across the Atlantic. But we can understand that, from a certain point of view, the European decision to restrict PESCO to European companies only, could appear as a flagrant lack of recognition for the efforts made by Washington in the Defense of the European continent. Furthermore, this can give the feeling that Europeans are only interested in Defense when it concerns industry and business, and not when it concerns operational forces. A feeling that we, French, know well, because we frequently accuse our neighbors, notably Germany, of it.
In fact, the only response that would not accept any challenge from anyone would be to significantly increase European defense forces concomitantly with the rise in power of European industrial funds, so as to no longer depend on US military power to be able to to deter a potential adversary, including Russia.
But, for the moment, this objective seems carefully dismissed by European leaders... Perhaps they really want, as the American ambassador suggested, to have it easy...
