The powerful influence of arms industry lobbyists on EU decision-making processes is nothing new. However the recent restructuring on an industry level, together with important political developments such as the European Defence Agency and Treaty of Lisbon, has moved the influence of the military industry to new levels.
Until recently, the arms industry within the EU fell mostly within the auspices of each individual nation. With the advent of technological warfare, the drive for a streamlined and technologically improved European military industry has increased.
Arms logos European military industry is in fierce competition with its US counterpart. The huge US home market guarantees sales and ensures economies of scale. Further, the trend in the US in the last two decades of mergers and acquisitions consolidated the US military industry. These emerging giants in the US and other competitive pressures forced the EU military industry to follow suit with a process of mergers.
Until this point, European governments wanted to keep their military industry national and there is still reluctance to entirely abandon national military structures. However the success of EADS, a massive arms company created by the merger of several European manufacturers in 2000, sparked a consolidation of the European aeronautic defence industry. (Neither naval nor land based weaponry have yet seen such a consolidation).
Three European arms giants have emerged: BAE Systems, EADS, and Thales and a stronger European military industry has emerged more rapidly than would have been expected.
There have also been several political initiatives to help consolidate the European military sector. One of the most important of these is OCCAR, created in 1996. OCCAR is a common procurement programme, originally for France, Germany, Ireland and the UK, but later joined by Belgium and most recently by Spain in 2005. By providing industry with joint orders, cheaper production runs should be guaranteed. It was created to smooth cooperation between the military companies in the EU and help provide European governments with cheaper European weaponry.
In 2000, the EU's largest arms producing countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the UK) signed a Framework Agreement on the restructuring of European military industry. The aim of the Agreement was to harmonise regulations and to facilitate cooperation between arms producing companies, with regard to both the production and export of military equipment.
Though OCCAR and the Framework Agreement are projects of only some EU member states, the fact that they have been brought within the remit of the European Defence Agency means they have been enshrined within the Treaty between all EU countries. There is concern that the arms export policies originating in the Framework Agreement countries would follow the industry's economic interests rather than political considerations.
Arms Industry Lobbying
The arms industry has exploited the changed security policies in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks to gain increased influence with EU decision-makers. Such is their foothold now within Brussels that arms industry representatives played a crucial role in shaping the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the Treaty of Lisbon. Of thirteen experts invited to contribute to the defence aspects of the draft Constitution (repeated verbatim in the Treaty), three were industry representatives. Not one civil society representative was asked to contribute. The contributions have never been made public.
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See also: World Military Spending
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