United States, EU on Collision Course over European Defence Projects

The United States imposed an ultimatum to the European Union (EU) on May 22, to increase its participation in the EU armament programs, lest they lose arms support of the former.

"When a crisis occurs and European defenses fail, your citizens will not be impressed that the weapons used were only from the European countries," Michael Murphy, State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, was quoted as saying by El Pais during a meeting between the two parties on Sunday.

The meeting held between Political and Security Committee (PSC) of the EU and the Trump administration was to discuss the arms sales between them.

The EU introduced a new military pact shutting American companies out of defence contracts and undermining NATO, according to a report published by Reuters.

The US government, in a letter dated May 1, stated that the limitations on the involvement of non-EU countries in the new pact amounted to “poison pills.” The US alleged that the rules were too restrictive.

A European government official said the letter showed a “misunderstanding of how the European Union works” because the defence pact and fund were only one way to coordinate with the United States.“They are reading language into it (the pact) that fences the European continent off from American cooperation, and that is not true,” the official said.

"If the language of policies of the European Defense Fund and Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) guidelines are not changed, then the EU will have to choose: either renounce using the best technological capabilities that exist with the US and its NATO allies, or to develop them on their own," Murphy added.

“It is clear that similar reciprocally imposed US restrictions would not be welcomed by our European partners and allies, and we would not relish having to consider them in the future,” said the letter from two US Department of Defense undersecretaries, Ellen Lord and Andrea Thompson, to the EU’s foreign affairs chief, Federica Mogherini.

Any rules limiting US defence contractors’ participation would also amount to “a dramatic reversal of the last three decades of increased integration of the transatlantic defence sector,” said the letter, seen by Reuters.

The letter also mentioned "it is vital that independent EU initiatives like EDF and PESCO do not detract from NATO activities and NATO-EU cooperation."