While defense spending is increasing, EU Member States resist the development of a truly European Defense Industry and market. As a result, they are failing to make procurement more efficient, for example by improving interoperability and utilising economies of scale. Meanwhile, diverging national export policies are a constant source of conflict between Member States.

This needs to change with the European Defense Industrial Strategy. Already in 2021, I presented a draft for a European Arms Export Control Regulation to introduce strict and transparent arms export controls on EU level.

In my recent plenary speech, I call on EU Member States to pool their national defense budgets, work on common technical standards and tie subsidies and pooled funds to compliance with these standards. We must prioritise the security of European citizens, not the profits of the arms industry!