FT has learned about the tension between France and Germany over EU rearmament

Tensions are growing between France and Germany over whether to include non-member countries in the European Union's (EU) rearmament. This was reported on March 8 by the Financial Times (FT) newspaper.

Berlin believes that new financing for the defense industry in the amount of €150 billion should be open to non-EU partners. At the same time, it is clarified that Paris does not agree.

"It is very important for us that projects that can be supported in this way are open to countries that are not members of the European Union, but cooperate closely with it. For example, Great Britain, Norway, Switzerland or Turkey," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said during his speech at the EU summit on March 6.

In turn, French President Emmanuel Macron, who has long advocated increasing European autonomy and stimulating domestic industrial production, said that defense spending "should not be directed at new ready-made solutions that will again become non-European."

According to the FT, diplomats from Brussels are concerned that the initiative may be abandoned in the same way as in the winter, when Paris demanded to limit the share of funds that can be spent on the purchase of components from countries outside the bloc.

Senior officials of the European Commission (EC) were urged to work closely with Paris, Berlin and other capitals to ensure that the proposal to expand investments in defense would not be blocked. He was instructed to prepare it in 10 days. The EU representative clarified that a lot of work remains to be done on this issue and "compromises will have to be made."

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This will hit the economy of the association — the amount required for rearmament is four times its annual budget.

EC President Ursula von der Leyen announced on March 6 that during the summit in Brussels, EU leaders agreed on an 800 billion euro plan for the militarization of Europe. During a speech to reporters in Brussels on March 4, she shared that the rearmament plan is dedicated to how to use all the financial levers at the disposal of the EU to help members of the association quickly and significantly increase defense spending as a matter of urgency.