EU Commissioner for Defence Andrius Kubilius has acknowledged the lack of successful defence projects in the European Union, following the failure of the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) programme to develop a next-generation European fighter jet.
In an interview with Der Spiegel, he said that in defence matters, it is difficult for me to recall even a single successful project, and FCAS is a continuation of this unfortunate tradition, Caliber.Az reports.
“We still struggle to bring pan-European defence projects to success,” Kubilius noted.
Kubilius stressed that he wants to encourage EU member states to cooperate more closely, for example, in building a joint air defence system, developing drones, or designing a new fighter jet.
According to him, Germany’s increase in military spending is “the right step that should serve as an example for others.”
However, he warned that rising national defence spending should not increase fragmentation within Europe.
“We see that countries are increasingly purchasing weapons individually or in pairs. This is a negative trend,” he said, calling for a unified European defence market.
“Not only Germany, but all EU member states should act in a more European way,” he added.
On June 8, DPA reported, citing German government sources, that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron had agreed to scrap the multi-billion-euro FCAS programme.
The report said the decision followed the inability of Dassault and Airbus to resolve disagreements over the project.
FCAS had been intended to replace Germany’s Eurofighter jets and France’s Rafale aircraft by 2040.
By Bakhtiyar Abbasov
