Twelve European nations are pushing back against France’s demands for strict European preference rules in the bloc’s upcoming long-term budget, arguing that defence programmes must remain open to military allies outside the EU amid a changing security environment.
Twelve Nations Push Back Against French Defence Preference
A coalition of twelve countries has signed a non-paper challenging France’s drive to impose strict European preference rules on future defence programmes. The participating nations—Germany, Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, and Slovenia—are advocating for military procurement that includes international allies.
Openness for participation of third countries is a very important signal to our allies and partners outside the EU,
the paper stated, according to Kyivpost.
Budget Negotiations and the European Competitiveness Fund
The disagreement is part of tough negotiations over the European Union’s next long-term budget covering 2028 to 2034, which balances priorities in competitiveness, defence, and security. The European Commission’s proposed €2 trillion budget blueprint allocates over €409 billion for the European Competitiveness Fund, a figure that includes €175 billion from the Horizon research and innovation programme. The EU executive has earmarked €130 billion for defence and space, though the precise split is unspecified, and the competitiveness fund may face cuts of around 4% compared to the original draft.
Within this funding structure, the opposing twelve countries argue that associations can enhance the impact of EU investments. Associations can leverage the impact of EU funding by increasing funding budgets, economies of scale as well as efficiencies, resilience and innovation along supply chains,
the paper noted, while emphasizing that the EU should retain the automatic participation of EEA countries and Ukraine in the defence industry section without an association agreement
as reported by Kyivpost.
French Stance on Strategic Independence
In contrast, France views strict European preference rules as a central objective for reducing external dependencies. French EU affairs minister Benjamin Haddad stated earlier in the summer that European funds must be used to reduce our dependencies by investing jointly to support our innovation ecosystems and our defence and space sectors,
citing the eligibility criteria for the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) and the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP) as positive precedents for the European Competitiveness Fund.
The EDIP instrument is worth €1.5 billion, while SAFE represents a €150 billion instrument; both mandate a minimum of two-thirds European components and protect design authority. Supporters of the French approach argue that the European Competitiveness Fund specifically concerns EU money, noting that nations are already increasing national defence budgets independently to meet NATO spending targets.
Transatlantic Tensions and Washington’s Warning
The debate has also drawn reactions from defence industry players following a recent US non-paper. Washington urged European co-legislators to drop strict European preference in favor of a made with Europe
or made in NATO
approach, warning that ECF restrictions would weaken the transatlantic defence industrial base.
Reflecting on Paris’s diplomatic standing, one critical diplomat remarked that Paris is isolated,
adding that France simply cannot afford to stall European defence investments,
and that strategic defence ties with key partners like the UK and Canada should not be compromised for domestic industrial interests, according to Kyivpost.
