Not only Oto Melara, all the lashes of Draghi
What Draghi said about the European common defense during the press conference at the end of the European Council in Brussels
Draghi sends a strong and clear message for European defense.
"There is now awareness that we spend more than three times what Russia spends on defense", said the Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, in the press conference at the end of the European Council which took place yesterday and the yesterday in Brussels.
“We import weapons from the rest of the world accounting for 60% of all our weapons. These are decisions due to technological issues, but we are not a continent behind on this front. It is therefore necessary to coordinate this type of imports ”, highlighted the Prime Minister.
“We have a lot of armies, military schemes which, however, are not interoperable. Helicopters of a type that are not good for another country, non-exchangeable instruments and it is also a problem for maintenance, ”added Draghi. According to the premier, "every country also has criteria for import-export" and for this reason "I hope that we too will act according to a reciprocity clause".
"For the first time – moreover the day after the EU decision to launch joint military acquisitions – someone in Rome spoke to the daughter-in-law so that the mother-in-law intends", commented La Verità in Draghi's words. “Neither Fincantieri nor Leonardo have problems of reciprocity with the US. Draghi's message is clearly the mandate to Profumo and the input to prevent the French from overriding the principle of reciprocity ”, remarked the daily directed by Maurizio Belpietro.
All the details.
THE RECIPE OF DRAGONS FOR EUROPEAN DEFENSE
It is not the first time that the Italian Prime Minister has drawn the attention of Brussels to greater coordination of European defense efforts.
“Our security spending is about three times that of Russia, but it is divided into 146 defense systems. The United States has only 34. It is a profoundly inefficient distribution of resources, which hinders the construction of a true European defense ”said Draghi during his speech in the European Parliament last May 3 .
“It is a profoundly inefficient distribution of resources, which hinders the construction of a true European defense. Strategic autonomy in defense passes first of all through greater efficiency of military spending in Europe ”, the prime minister stressed.
THE IMPORTANCE OF RECIPROCITY IN MILITARY EXPORT
And on the rationalization of military spending, Draghi also returned yesterday at the end of the European Council.
“If one buys weapons from the US it is because certain weapons are not made in other parts of the world. The direction of these flows is dictated by technological considerations, strategic considerations, diplomatic relations, the location of alliances, there are many considerations ”, said Draghi. But "if our supplier prevents exports from another European country from entering, well then the European Union should consider not importing from that country."
According to Draghi, “we need to evolve a little from this type of mentality to one that is a little more controlled and coordinated and perhaps, as far as possible, transparent”.
THE QUESTION OF OTO MELARA AND TANK?
When the EU starts common defense spending, the prime minister then invokes reciprocity on arms.
According to La Verità it was from Draghi a “clear mandate to resist in Paris” for Alessandro Profumo, CEO of the Italian aerospace and defense giant Leonardo.
“The start of the EU tank project is at stake in the coming weeks. The indication is careful to confer Oto melara abroad without adequate participation with defense electronics. But the same goes for EU corvettes or, we hope, on the future of the Tempest . It is to be hoped that Fincantieri and Leonardo will make use of Orizzonte naval systems and work together to put Macron's rudeness on Stx back in his throat ”, remarked Claudio Antonelli of the newspaper La Verità .
LA STOCKATA TO THE GENERALS
Finally, Draghi launched a small dig at the top of the defense to arrive at a common European defense
Especially in the field of arms imports, “the impression is that the direction of the choice of weapons, of what to buy and where to buy is entirely national”. And "it is a prerogative jealously guarded by the generals, so make an effort to talk to each other more and understand that it is all our money", concluded Draghi.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/non-solo-oto-melara-tutte-le-staffilate-di-draghi/ on Wed, 01 Jun 2022 10:09:19 +0000.