EU Military Committee Chairman, General Claudio Graziano, believes that coronavirus pandemic has impaired armies’ abilities to respond to security challenges, reducing training missions and effectively shrinking the defence budgets of countries that have been hard hit by the economic slowdown.
Speaking to the Financial Times, the four-star general from Italy claimed that the European Union has “the double duty to accomplish the mission and to protect the people” from the COVID pandemic and maintain tech superiority worldwide – including with a help of a €7bn fund set to finance the research and development of military equipment.
“There is a clear understanding that we have to protect our technology, develop our technology and to maintain our technology superiority . . . If you want to be credible, you have to invest the right amount of money, particularly research and development,” Graziano said.
The EU defence chief has just paid a brief visit to South Korea to discuss security issues in Asia, including concerns about North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme and Myanmar’s military coup, that in February led to the overthrown of the country’s democratically elected government.
Asian Tensions
The general, who represents the defence chiefs of the 27 EU member states, has also spoken about China’s military and technological ambitions, powered by some comprehensive military reforms under Xi Jinping. According to Graziano, China’s plan to make the People’s Liberation Army a “world-class” force can be seen as threatening.
“That poses a security issue for all the world, and of course also for the European Union, already now that we have to deal with in the short- to medium-[term] perspective,” the military chairman maintained.
With ongoing tensions over the disputed territories in the South China Sea and Washington’s accusations that Beijing had been pursuing “aggressive actions” towards Taiwan, the EU has been paying close attention to the region, which has been at the centre of global trade routes.
The bloc thus could keep a “more systematic presence” in Asia through cooperation with partners, the general believes.
The European countries have continued to increase their defence budgets in 2020 despite the global pandemic – but the majority of the NATO partners still failed to reach defence spending targets of 2% of GDP last year. According to estimates from Jane's defence publication, the world will experience a “noticeable slowdown” in military expenditures in 2021, with an expected drop observed in defence budgets across Europe.