After two years of war in Ukraine, Brussels is due to unveil its defense strategy on Tuesday, March 5, with the aim of speeding up joint purchases of military equipment for Ukraine and to replenish empty arsenals in member states. "We need to be turbocharging its defense industrial capacity in the next five years," Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who recently announced plans to run for re-election, insisted to MEPs on February 28, as the war in Ukraine served as a reminder of the shortcomings of European defense.

This program, which Brussels hopes to extend to Kyiv's defense industry from the outset, should also help to upgrade production capacity, which has been reduced after 30 years of under-investment. It should also give European companies the means to compete with their American rivals.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Europeans have resumed their investments, increasing their budget for 2022 alone by 6%. But the bulk of purchases are being made outside the continent. "Since 2022, 75% of military equipment purchases have gone to non-European firms and 68% to American companies," confirmed a source in Brussels. "Europe's objective is not to stop purchases across the Atlantic, but to increase the share of purchases on the Old Continent, aiming for a market share of 50%."

Before this can happen, however, it will be necessary to resist the efforts of American lobbying, some of whose representatives are already accusing Brussels – and Thierry Breton, the European commissioner in charge of the internal market, in particular – of wanting to introduce "European protectionism" on military equipment. Faced with these accusations, von der Leyen reiterated that "European sovereignty will make our partnerships stronger. It will never affect the importance and the need for our NATO alliance."

In order to do more for the defense industry, the Commission is proposing the European Defense Industrial Development Program, which addresses both supply and demand for military equipment. On the supply side, it intends to capitalize on the European Defense Fund (€8 billion, launched in 2021), which finances research and development carried out by European companies together. Similarly, it intends to deepen and enrich its production support fund for European companies (€500 million), launched at the end of 2023, which subsidizes the upgrading of munitions factories.

According to Breton, in just two years, shell production capacity should increase from less than 500,000 shells before the war to 2 million in 2025. Europe is also expected to co-finance an estimated 20 capacity expansion projects. The idea is to extend this support to all defense factories producing drones, artillery systems and so on.

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