The Diplomat
The French Defence Minister, Florence Parly, advocated yesterday in Madrid that the increase in military spending should be made through the European defence industry.
Parly and her Spanish counterpart, Margarita Robles, chaired the plenary session of the Spanish-French Defence and Security Council, which has not met for nine years.
In her appearance before journalists, Margarita Robles pointed out that the government will soon publish a multi-year plan to increase military investment, in line with the commitment made to allied partners and on which the head of government, Pedro Sánchez, insisted yesterday at the Generation of Opportunities Forum, insisting on the objective of reaching 2% of GDP.
Robles added that the government has invested 13 billion euros in new weapons programmes in the last three and a half years, and said that “investing in defence is investing in peace”.
“In the face of those who were unaware that the values of freedom, peace and security could be threatened, Putin’s war has highlighted the need for us to be aware that we have to defend them”, he said.
Florence Parly said that the problem is not just to increase military spending but to do it “well” through the European defence industry, so that we can have sovereignty in this area and that the investment has an impact on the economy of the countries and the creation of jobs.
“If each Member State continues to invest with completely different materials, we will not be able to guarantee the effectiveness of the investments,” he warned.
Spain and France yesterday reaffirmed their commitment to the cooperation projects they are working on, such as the future European fighter plane, the Eurodron and the Tiger helicopters.
In this regard, Robles acknowledged the Spanish government’s “concern” over the delays being suffered by the European fighter, the FCAS, due to disagreements between the industries, and called for these to be overcome in order to continue making progress.
