CSU Vice Weber calls for a war economy in the EU
The CSU deputy and head of the European People’s Party (EPP), Manfred Weber, calls for a reorganization of armaments production in the EU in view of the war in Ukraine. “We need – even if the term is not a simple one – a kind of war economy in the EU in order to be able to guarantee stability and security,” Weber told the newspapers of the Funke media group (Thursday). The European states are currently not in a position to provide the necessary armaments quickly enough – neither for their own defense nor for Ukraine.
According to Weber, for example, there must be simpler procurement procedures for armament contracts. “We see the problem in Germany: We have 100 billion from the special fund on the table – and hardly anything happens because the bureaucracy is paralyzing,” he said. He also calls on the EU Commission to develop common standards for the production and export of weapons and ammunition. “On this basis we can build real military capacities – from cyber defense to missile defense systems,” said the leader of the centre-right group in the European Parliament