THE EUROPEAN – SECURITY AND DEFENCE UNION
Germany’s policy on arms exports is still a very sensitive issue
photo: MCSN Michael Starkey
Germany – a touchstone for the arms policy of the European Union
A conversation between Dr Hans-Christoph Atzpodien, Managing Director of the Federation of German Security and Defence Industries e.V. (BDSV), Berlin; Patrick Bellouard, Engineer General (ret), President of EuroDéfense France, Paris, and Prof Trevor Taylor, Professorial Research Fellow in Defence Management at RUSI, London. The discussion was led by Hartmut Bühl and Nannette Cazaubon, Brussels/Paris
H
artmut Bühl: Welcome to this round table discussion on European arms policy and in particular Germany’s arms export policy. In conferences, participants regularly complain to me about Germany’s arms and export policies. They tell me that it lacks coherence and reliability. The German government regularly engages in huge arms cooperation projects without giving its partners any assurances that they will be authorised to export. Mr Bellouard, what are your thoughts on this? Patrick Bellouard: A country’s policy on arms exports is a tool of its foreign policy and its sovereignty. The Common Foreign
country’s policy of “Aarms exports is a tool
Photo: private
of its foreign policy and its sovereignty.”
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Patrick Bellouard
and Security Policy (CFSP) of the European Union (EU) was introduced by the Maastricht Treaty in 1993 and reinforced by the Lisbon Treaty in 2009, that clarified the role of the High Representative of the Union for CFSP. However, policy discussions take place within the intergovernmental framework and it is a real challenge to obtain a consensus between the 28 EU Member States on critical issues. Although there has certainly been huge progress over the last ten years, there is still a long way to go before CFSP is a reality. Member States will continue for some time yet to have their own foreign and export policy, as we can see in the Yemen conflict. Nannette Cazaubon: But this situation should not prevent Member States from engaging in arms cooperation projects, as cooperation is the only solution to reach their objective of EU strategic autonomy? Patrick Bellouard: Yes, European cooperation on defence is clearly vital for the future of European defence and security. The level of European cooperation on arms is still very low (stable at 20 % of total defence investment expenditures of EU Members States during the last 30 years) and the Member States must increase this level of cooperation if they want to reach their objective of EU strategic autonomy. However,
