Politica Internazionale

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mercoledì 14 febbraio 2018

European military integration that does not like the United States

A new reason for confrontation emerges between the United States and Europe: that of the arms market in the context of the strengthening of the Atlantic Alliance. One of the points of Trump's political program is to reduce the military commitment to other states, including allies. For the president of the USA, a lower commitment involves financial savings to be allocated to American growth; starting from this point Trump has repeatedly urged, above all the European states, to a greater participation, also economic, to the programs related to the defense. The ways in which these solicitations have arrived have not been entirely diplomatic, even if it must be recognized, that the European attitude towards defense was based too much on American aid and commitment. The issue imposed serious reflection on European nations, where the need for common military programs within the Union was recognized. On the other hand, this need could also favor the adoption of a common line in foreign policy and be a decisive factor for the objective of political union. The exit of the United Kingdom from Brussels also constituted another reason to build new instruments able to favor common programs in the field of defense. Therefore, having established that the policy of military integration of the Union was now compulsory, it was necessary to create a fund, financed annually from the EU budget with a billion euros for armaments and five hundred million for research in the field. military. The goal is also to involve the contribution of individual states with significant financial contributions. The central point of the project, however, is that to access these funds companies will have to be European. In fact, this represents a closure for the country that is the largest arms producer in the world: the United States. Washington has openly accused Brussels of protectionism, contradicting the economic policy inaugurated by Trump at the national level, which is based precisely on the closure to foreign producers; moreover, the US arms market has always been reserved for local companies. According to the policy inaugurated by the Union, the United States would lose a substantial share of the arms market, especially if considered that the Union will be a market in clear expansion, located in one of the areas with greater wealth. Within the Atlantic Alliance, which at the beginning had positively judged the European plan, we now consider its effects from a different point of view. If from the economic point of view the major member of the Alliance will have a substantial loss, even from the political point of view the influence of Washington is destined to decrease precisely as hoped for by Trump: greater military autonomy of the European Union. Potentially these two added factors, can create an alteration of the internal balance of the Atlantic Alliance, already endangered by the position of Turkey, increasingly politically distant from Washigton. It must however be specified that US military protection is still the most important part of European defense and that autonomy in this sector can not be achieved in the short term, even if the funds available are much more substantial; what is needed, apart from the war materials, is an effective coordination, which is still far away, and a level of integration between the various armed forces of the different countries, which can not be achieved by well-defined programs in times that are certainly not short. These considerations expose Europe to a kind of blackmail, which the United States could implement if they are excluded from the market that is about to open. The Union must consider whether to renounce, at least in part, the policies of military development, which is also an opportunity for technological research and thus to benefit, in a certain way still of American protection or to clash with its major ally to arrive at greater autonomy in the defense sector. On the other hand, the United States will not be able to claim access to the European military market if it does not assume a reciprocal position and in any case the European allies are too important in the current scenario characterized by Russian protagonism and the Chinese role, just to mention some of the actors on the scene. The way to go will be the diplomatic one with all the difficulties of the case, but for Europe the opportunity to create one's own armed force is unique and obligatory.

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