The defence ministers from Germany and France both declared that the European Union has absolutely no role to play in weapons export decisions, issuing a clear rebuke to European Commission ambitions to ease trade within the EU weapons market.
The defence ministers from Germany and France both declared that the European Union has absolutely no role to play in weapons export decisions, issuing a clear rebuke to European Commission ambitions to ease trade within the EU weapons market.
Headline and quote don’t focus on the key issue:
The EU wants to loosen arms control and there doesn’t seem to be a replacement for what the states do. At best that’s just recklessness.
Of course states don’t want to lose that control, even if the EU would track components itself. But that should be cause for questioning in general if the EU should continue centralizing power in Brussels.