NATO and the EU are looking for money for defense. And the confused Swedes wait

– I am a supporter of the idea that a significant part of the resources from European funds, from cohesion funds to national reconstruction plans, should be allocated to the activities of the defense industry, to support the operation of this part of the economy. We have ambitious goals at the EU level, but the primary goal should be security, argued Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz after Thursday’s meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels. He emphasized that Poland intends to allocate 4.23 percent. GDP for defense, and this – for the second year in a row – will be the highest indicator in NATO.

The need to quickly ramp up the production of weapons and ammunition to meet Ukraine’s immediate needs, as well as within the framework of strengthening Europe’s defense potential (especially given the risk of Donald Trump’s second presidency), increasingly pushes the EU and NATO to jointly seek solutions for the defense industry. Frenchman Thierry Breton, EU Commissioner for the Internal Market and Industry, who also held meetings at NATO headquarters this week, recently put forward a proposal to establish an EU defense fund worth EUR 100 billion (for joint defense orders and increasing the production of weapons and ammunition). Their source could be common bonds, but for now, both the scale and the controversial idea of ​​a new common debt – although positively perceived in Paris – could not count on the required consensus of EU countries. The issue of developing a “defense union” will be the topic of the March EU summit.

Sikorski as defense commissioner? “He has all the predispositions”

Ursula von der Leyen, who will probably announce her intention to run for a second five-year term as president of the European Commission next week, is considering appointing a separate commissioner for defense. – Radosław Sikorski has all the predispositions to perform one of the most important functions in Europe and the world – Kosiniak-Kamysz replied today to journalists’ questions about media speculations about Sikorski as a possible candidate for EU Commissioner for Defense. Kosiniak-Kamysz noted that there is still a long way to go before decisions about important positions in Brussels are made, because they are made only after the elections to the European Parliament.

Foreign and defense issues, according to the treaties, are the domain of the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell. Considerations regarding the EU Commissioner for Defense now concern the expansion of some of the competences of the current Commissioner Bretton. This would include, among others: piloting industrial policy in the arms industry, supporting joint procurement of weapons by EU countries, and perhaps also about the civilian aspects of military mobility (adaptation of bridges, roads, especially those developed with the support of EU funds), which is now the responsibility of the EU Commissioner for Transport. The source of the discussion about the names at such an early stage is the media and some experts, but not diplomats of key countries in Brussels.

Training in Bydgoszcz

– We have decided to establish a new NATO-Ukraine Joint Center for Analysis, Training and Education in Bydgoszcz – announced Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, after Thursday’s deliberations. So far, the EU military mission, with its main command in Poland, has already trained several tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers with money from the EU’s European Peace Fund. However, the new NATO center in Bydgoszcz, which should be operational in a few months, will be another institutional link between Ukrainians and NATO, although they will not receive a formal invitation to the Alliance at the July summit in Washington.

– The Turks quoted their price. There were negotiations between Ankara and the US on the sale of fighter jets. The Hungarians are not saying anything – reports one of the Western diplomats when asked whether Budapest has any expectations at the Alliance forum related to the ratification of Sweden’s entry into NATO. Hungarians are the only NATO country that has not yet approved Sweden’s accession, although in the recent past Prime Minister Viktor Orban has several times linked ratification to Turkey’s consent, which was formalized in January. The Hungarian delay is accompanied by “some disorientation” in NATO and Sweden, and Alliance diplomats only express hope that Sweden will join NATO before the next summit in Washington.

At the NATO headquarters in Brussels, questions were again raised about Donald Trump’s recent declarations questioning the obligations to defend NATO members in solidarity. – I expect the United States to remain a persistent ally within NATO for at least three reasons. First, a strong NATO is in the national security interest of the United States. Second, there is broad bipartisan support for NATO in the United States. Third, criticism in the United States is not primarily directed against NATO, but against NATO members who do not spend enough money on defense. And in this matter, we actually have a very good story to tell, argued Stoltenberg, citing the accelerating growth of spending in the Alliance.