Washington warned the EU about the economic and political consequences if it continued to develop its own defense projects, El Pais reported referring to the letter of the US Undersecretary of State Ellen Lord to the head of European diplomacy Federica Mogherini.
The text of the letter notes that the current EU defense plans threaten a decade-long integration of the transatlantic defense industry and military cooperation within NATO.
In particular, Washington is not satisfied with the adoption of the Regulations of the European Defense Fund, which allows EU states to invite non-European countries to participate in projects, but at the same time any of these projects will be entirely in the intellectual property of the EU.
In addition, the US is also not satisfied with the terms of the Program for Permanent Structured Defense Cooperation (PESCO), which is aimed at closer cooperation between 25 EU member states, RIA Novosti reported.
In the letter, the US Undersecretary of State also points out that the development of defense capacities in Europe will lead to duplication of military systems that are not interchangeable, and this is spending defense resources and generating rivalry between NATO and the EU.
The US also insists that the projects relating to intellectual property and export control, as well as the veto right clause, which allows the country leading one project or another, invite any business to cooperate.
The European Commission had previously proposed to increase investment in security by 40 percent in the EU budget period from 2021 to 2027, as well as to create a European Defense Fund. The EU is expected to become one of the four largest investors in the field of defense research and technology in Europe.
It is envisaged that, within the budget for the period 2021-2027, EUR 4.1 billion will be allocated to finance competitive and collaborative research projects. In addition to the investments of member states, cost-sharing will allocate 8.9 billion euros for the development of prototypes and related requirements in the field of certification and testing.
