Alexander Weis' Final Tip: A Little Competition Wouldn't Hurt
(BRUSSELS2) (In Ghent) For Alexander Weis, the director of the European Defense Agency, this is his last Council of Defense Ministers in Ghent, on 23 and 25 September. Appointed in October 2007, he must indeed leave in the next few days; September 30, to be exact. And we expect the appointment of his successor soon (1). In two minutes, I asked her to summarize what her advice for her successor might be. " We have no alternative in Europe but to cooperate, and better cooperate “he assures. Corn " we need to open up our markets a little, to introduce a little competition. Take a look: 80% of the markets awarded today are awarded without competition. But we need it. I know well – he adds – that the defense industry has its specificities, that it does not work like another market, like the automobile, for example. But still ". And he explains: “Currently, in the face of the crisis, we have three choices: to obtain better value for money from our investments, to save money or to give subsidies to industry. We can't do both. Member States must therefore choose: either to save public funds or to subsidize their industry. That's why, I deeply think that a little openness would not hurt ". As to whether Europe could set up a "Foreign Military Sales", he smiles (definitely Ghent is the evening of smiles, see Conversation with Herman Van R.) but does not respond. Or rather his smile is eloquent. It means: you are dreaming, dear friend, impossible, Europeans are too divided...
(1) It is the High Representative who makes the proposal for the future director of the Agency. And it is up to the Board of Directors, made up of the Ministers of Defense to choose it (26 Member States are on the Board of Directors). Three candidates are currently in the running, according to my information, of nationality: French (normally the favorite but that's a lot of French people named by Cathy Ashton), Finnish or Italian.
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)