This also involves developing Europe’s own defense industry. Rutte welcomed the EU’s Defense Industry Program, a €1.5 billion package to boost local arms production, calling the current European arms sector “too much” small, too fragmented and too slow.
There is dispute over whether non-EU companies should have easy access to EDIP, but Rutte warned that this should not be used to exclude allies.
“Involving non-EU allies in the EU’s defense industrial efforts is vital, I believe, for Europe’s security,” he said. “Transatlantic defense industrial cooperation makes us all stronger.”
Better together
In his first appearance at the European Parliament as NATO chief, Rutte said the aim was to “bring NATO and the EU closer together” to counter a Kremlin “destabilization campaign” as well as threats ranging from Iran and China to cyberattacks and nuclear power. proliferation.
“We are safe now, but not in four or five years,” he said, later adding that if spending does not increase, Europeans should “give up their Russian lessons or go to New Zealand “.
“I am deeply concerned about the security situation in Europe,” he said. “We are not at war, but we are not at peace either… This means we must invest more in defense and produce more capabilities. This cannot wait. We must strengthen the resilience of our societies and our critical infrastructure.”
