Franco-German tensions in the European defence field
21.10.2020
Question for written answer E-005726/2020
to the Commission
Rule 138
Thierry Mariani (ID)
On Thursday, 20 February 2020, the French and German Ministers of Defence signed a EUR 150 million contract in Paris which should lead to the first prototype of the future European fighter aircraft being completed in 2026[1].
Even though the Franco-German cooperation project represents a considerable investment in the context of European defence (close to EUR 65 million has already been invested in design studies since the beginning of 2019)[2], this symbolically significant partnership seems to be distracting attention from Paris and Berlin's contradictory ambitions.
In France, the 2019-2020 activity report of the Parliamentary Intelligence Delegation highlighted concerns over the strategic shift in the Franco-German approach to European space cooperation. ‘The German BND recently secured approval to develop an autonomous optical imaging system. […] This strategic change was made unilaterally by our German partner, which raises questions about European governance. It provides further evidence of the strategic, technological and industrial rivalry that is becoming a more and more worrying feature of the French-German relationship and raises the question of whether France should develop its own space observation capacity using radar imagery’.
Does the Commission not agree that this project demonstrates the pointlessness of EU defence policy?