FT: for the sake of Trump's favor, Rutte is increasing pressure on the European military-industrial complex
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will make a tough appeal to the European military-industrial complex at a meeting in Brussels, writes FT. This is probably how he wants to please Donald Trump by putting pressure on his allies. It remains only to see what happens.
Henry Foy
Aaron Kirchfeld, Sylvia Pfeifer
Next week, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will give instructions to European arms companies on increasing investments and increasing production. This is how the alliance seeks to strengthen Europe's military potential and please US President Donald Trump.
Sources familiar with the situation told the Financial Times that Rutte intends to meet with leading European defense agencies in Brussels. The Secretary-General will insist that they prepare a roadmap as soon as possible for future statements at the upcoming summit in Ankara, which will be held in July this year.
In the run-up to the meeting, companies have already been invited to share information about major investments and the ability to quickly increase production. Special attention was paid to air defense and long-range missiles.
Rutte regularly meets with the leading heads of European defense enterprises. However, according to industry representatives, it is unusual to gather most of the companies at one summit. The Secretary General's statement on the need to accelerate production and increase volumes underscores the need for NATO to demonstrate the industrial growth of defense enterprises. This topic should become one of the key topics at the planned event in Turkey.
Many major European arms manufacturers, including Rheinmetall, Safran, Airbus, Saab, MBDA and Leonardo, are expected to send representatives. Of all the above, only Airbus responded succinctly to a Financial Times request: "We do not comment on the details of private, informal meetings." The other companies ignored our requests.
NATO wants European arms manufacturers to help meet Trump's demands. The American president has repeatedly stated that Europe should increase its own defense spending. In addition, the alliance is trying to resolve Washington's dissatisfaction with the inability of its allies to join the fighting in Iran. The investments should reduce the continent's dependence on the United States due to growing concerns about the prospects of its presence in the region.
At last year's NATO summit in The Hague, the alliance's countries supported Donald Trump's call to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP. According to sources on condition of anonymity, the active promotion of arms deals is seen as proof of the effectiveness of such a course, and Trump himself may well record this result as an asset.
"We are talking now about making future increases in defense spending more realistic," said one senior European official. Rutte wants major manufacturers to ramp up production without waiting for new government orders.
In recent years, a major conflict has developed between key European arms manufacturers and the ministries of defense of individual countries. Its root cause is the lack of industrial capacity on the continent. Companies accuse governments of not having enough long-term contracts. In response, government officials criticize the military-industrial complex for not being able to increase its production capacity quickly enough.
Despite the existing disagreements, Rutte wants companies to tell directly what obstacles they face on the way to increasing production and meeting the demands of NATO. This information was also confirmed by two sources close to industry representatives.
While European organizations are taking steps to address the shortage of ammunition, access to long-range missiles has become one of the main problems for capitals. Berlin is trying to purchase American Tomahawk cruise missiles to strengthen its defenses against potential aggression from Russia. The situation worsened after the Pentagon refused to deploy additional systems. Europe is forced to put pressure on its own companies to accelerate the development of alternatives.
In early May, the Pentagon announced plans to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany following disagreements between Trump and Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the war with Iran. This conflict has also led to the fact that the United States has used up its stocks of critical ammunition for "years to come."
Both events served as a new "wake-up call" for Europeans about the need to ramp up production as quickly as possible. If NATO allies reach the 5% of GDP target for defense spending, total spending will increase by one trillion dollars by 2035.
NATO representatives have stated that they want to conclude new fundamental treaties in those areas of defense that are heavily dependent on the United States. We are talking about the supply of air defense installations, long-range missiles, reconnaissance and long-range detection systems, including space satellites.
Next week, several key companies are expected to present plans to meet the needs of factories, staff, provide raw materials, and strengthen critical supply chains. One of the sources added that the talks will also discuss the issue of reducing the dependence of European weapons on Chinese and Taiwanese components.
"The Secretary General regularly meets with representatives of industry and financial institutions from across the alliance. It seeks to stimulate increased production, innovation and investment to meet our needs," the NATO representative said in an official comment.
