Photo : Collected
The European Commission's new defense strategy aimed at beefing up arms production and closer interstate cooperation should also include third countries, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said.
Last week, the European Commission unveiled a legislative proposal for a new EU defense industrial strategy. The proposal was made amid discord among defense companies in the European Union and a lack of understanding of military production potential, a senior EU official told reporters.
"We like the idea of closer co-operation [with third countries], not only because we have a military industry that could actually benefit from broader, more open markets, but because that’s our normal approach to trade, to remove barriers and stuff like that," Kristersson told on Tuesday (12 March).
The prime minister added that he had discussed the issue a few weeks ago with the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, during which both stressed the need for openness, including in cooperation with other countries, to increase production capacity in Europe.
Kristersson's remarks came as France was advocating for a strategy that would only benefit EU companies and production sites, the newspaper reported. However, many EU countries still have defense enterprises that are partly owned by non-EU shareholders or may have production lines outside the EU.
Messenger/Mumu
