“The vision of Italian Defence and its position in the international arena are very clear: NATO and the EU are the foundations of our security. The direction we’re pursuing with conviction is the strengthening of the EU’s Defence as the European cornerstone of the transatlantic relationship.”
The quote above was penned by Lorenzo Guerini, Italian defence minister, as he replied through an open letter to a few articles on Repubblica about the limited scope of ongoing EU common defence project as well as the perceived lack of Italian governmental and industrial strategies.
Mr Guerini recalled the letter he had co-signed with his French, German and Spanish equivalents, addressed to the EU’s High Commissioner Josep Borrell and to all the other European defence ministers. In that document, the quartet had set out the “essential guidelines” for the future of European common defence, which were unanimously welcomed by their colleagues.
Down to the ground, these guidelines consist in the strengthening of the Permanent Structured Cooperation, PESCO, the reduction of technological dependency from third-part countries and the launch of the Strategic Compass to determine the common challenges and what stance the EU should adopt.
It follows that European common defence projects need “more investments, more ambition,” argued Mr Guerini. The €7 billion set aside for this in the 2021-2027 European budget are a step in the right direction – a “first response” in the minister’s words – but not quite enough to really start fleshing out a fully-fledged and competitive EU common defence system.
The EU defence budget was originally intended to be much higher, as influential countries such as France and Germany share the vision of common defence projects capable of fostering the EU’s integration and diminishing its dependency from NATO at a time when the US seems to be retreating from the world stage.
However, the recently approved European recovery fund deal (intended to counter the economic damage brought about by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic) siphoned a good chunk of the resources intended for the next multiannual projects.
Meanwhile, European defence industries are not sitting idly. Mr Guerini highlighted that Italy, far from being irrelevant, is taking part in 25 – and leading 9 – of the 49 PESCO industrial cooperation projects. These include building ships, developing anti-missile systems, and the “Tempest”, a concept jet fighter being jointly developed by Italy and the UK and intended to replace the “Typhoon” Eurofighter.
In closing, Mr Guerini stressed Italy’s stern commitment to furthering its “euro-atlantic vision” in synergy with NATO. He underscored the country’s central role in the strengthening of the “still unaccomplished” project of European defence, which he called “decisive for a political Europe that’s capable of being an influential global actor.”
