Pooling and sharing: do we need a defense budget eurogroup?

(BRUXELLES2 in Paris) Pooling and sharing is not an option but an obligation, as the organizer of the seminar organized in Paris as part of the "Weimar meetings" reminded us.

A challenge without alternative

« The era of gratuitous or delegated defense is over. Europe must ensure its own security. It's clear. It is a challenge without alternative. » Especially since threats persist, or even reappear. « The post-Cold War illusion of the absence of threats to our borders is fading and the existence of a threat seems less and less improbable. noted Michel Miraillet of the Strategic Affairs Directorate of the (French) Ministry of Defence. It is therefore necessary to invent new instruments, new reflexes to facilitate cooperation between the Member States.

The era of spending galore is over

Defense budgets have indeed fallen by 45 billion euros over the past two years. Germany is forced to save 8,3 billion euros and cut staff by 40% by 2014. The United Kingdom cuts its budget by 8% over four years and cuts staff by 40.000 people. France must save 3,5 billion for 2010 and 54.000 fewer people by 2014. It is the research and technology budgets that have suffered the most. They have decreased by 200 million euros and today reach 2,3 billion euros within the European Union. They have decreased by 4 times more than all defense budgets. " We are thus mortgaging our future in terms of research and technology. Soon, we will be condemned to buy Made In China » says a participant in the seminar. 

Major objective: to avoid the loss of know-how

Pooling and sharing is therefore first and foremost an opportunity for serious savings. According to Nick Whitney (former chief agency Defense Commission and researcher at the ECFR), the cost of non-cooperation represents " between 15% and 30% of budgets”. Contrary to popular belief, it is also the only way to avoid the loss of know-how. “By dint of not cooperating, European nations have already lost whole sections of their capacity (strategic transport, in-flight refueling, surveillance, etc.). explains one of the participants in the seminar. " It is a tremendous lever for maintaining national capacities The recent example often cited during this seminar is that of the Royal Navy which, by sending its "navy" pilots on the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, while waiting for the availability of its aircraft carrier... in 2020, allows to save an entire function. But we were also able to hear the story of Greek experiments (conducted jointly with Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia/Fyrom, Croatia and Hungary) or Italy in terms of medical support. Finally, at the industrial level, we know that the only national markets " are not enough, all the more so as compartmentalization and obstacles persist within and between States. ". Nevertheless, obstacles remain. And states still do not really cooperate with each other. “Only 20% of Member States' defense spending is today carried out in cooperation. »

Sovereignty, a clever pretext for refusing cooperation

However, there are still major obstacles to sharing or pooling capacities: normative obstacles - maintenance and training standards -, regulatory ones - such as clearance diplomatic or caveats - or cultural - some soldiers refuse to be treated in operation by a doctor of another nationality! If engagement or combat capabilities often continue to be perceived " as difficult to share or pool in the name of national sovereignty, perceived in many countries as a "red line", this is also the case for many other areas where the impact of sovereignty is relatively limited, such as education, training, logistics. In all of this, let's face it. " The pretext of military specificity - often elegantly dressed behind the argument of sovereignty - is too often an artifice ready to preserve situational rents ».

Towards a Defense Budget Eurogroup and a Force Generation Conference

The participants in the seminar developed a series of ideas which can be summarized as follows:

• Support the development of variable-geometry cooperation on a geographical basis (Visegrad group, Baltic States) or/and thematic (EATC, maritime surveillance, medical support, etc.);
• Promote “methodical and regular” high-level political consultation on the evolution of defense budgets” in order to avoid the emergence of European capability gaps, such as a “Eurogroup of defense budgets”;
• Launch a call for contributions with the organization of a force generation conference in the fall;
• Develop the "advisory" function within the European Defense Agency and accelerate work on cooperation facilitators;
• Write a code of good conduct allowing “to identify good practices”, without financial implications.