“In order to defend ourselves, Europe must have its own defence industry. Yes, we have NATO for that reason. After all, we have NATO and, again, it is good to have NATO. But we have to do this work ourselves and this work is complementary to the work that NATO is doing.”
“We must realise the true purpose of the Union, which is to create a common ground with human rights, democracy and freedom of expression. We must be able to defend them”, stressed in an opening speech the Minister of National Defence, Nikos Dendias, who is participating in the discussion on “Today’s Threats, Tomorrow’s Priorities”, within the framework of the GLOBSEC 2024 Forum, which took place in Prague,
“The European Union is arguing and contradicting itself on the issue of trying to coordinate the defense industries and expand the defense capabilities of the European Union,” the minister stressed, “as calculates defense capability based on debt and deficitS. Since we say that we have to make a great effort to travel the distance and that we do not have time, this cannot be the case.”
I struggle daily with the financial needs of my ministry.trying to transform the Greek Armed Forces into what we call Agenda 2030, at the level of the 21st century. Precisely because I have to face these difficulties. And I also have the European Union on my back – because of the deficits and the debt – and I can’t do one, I can’t do the other, I have to reprogram after 10-15 years.”
“So, I mean, let’s get a Defense Commissioner, great, great. What will the Defense Commissioner do if I can’t write a check? So let’s change the Defense tax rules. This would be the main thing the European Union should do in the future,” he appealed.
“We would have the rules on an altar, but we would have been destroyed”
On whether there is political will for this, he noted: “I see the absolute rule, the rule of the need for survival, behind everything. Now, if the fiscal rules in the European Union are fine, but the European Union does not survive, great! We would have the rules on an altar, like the tablets of the Ten Commandments of Moses, but we would have been destroyed by the totalitarian forces of the planet.
Obviously this is going too far. I fully, fully understand the need for fiscal responsibility, but these times call for additional measures.”
“The new Defence Commissioner would have difficulty establishing his role”
Regarding the new Defence Commissioner, he estimated that “and of course, like anything new, the new Defence Commissioner would have problems in establishing his role, in creating understanding about his role, firstly within the European Union, but also in the Member States, in the capitals. Because until now this has been an exclusively national decision. We know that. But I prefer to remain optimistic. It is a step. It is a very important step. And as always, great things start with small steps. So let’s encourage this effort and see how we go from there.”
The discussion, moderated by Le Monde editorial director Sylvie Kauffmann, also featured Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, former Slovak Defense Minister Martin Sklenár, Helsing co-founder and co-CEO Gundbert Scherf, and Atlantic Council Northern Europe Director Anna Wieslander.