European public money for the military industry
Teresa de Fortuny and Xavier Bohigas - article published in Paz en Construcción blog (Peace under Construction) at El País - 22/01/2019
The European Union is working to approve a multimillionaire funding plan, which has the military industry as its main beneficiary.
Jean-Claude Junker, president of the European Commission, during his address on the state of the Union on November 14th 2016, announced the EU’s intention to promote and fund the military research. Nonetheless, the Commission was already working on it. In 2015, the European Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Elżbieta Bieńkowska, created the Group of Personalities (GOP) on defence research. Among the 18 members, 9 represented arms companies and defence research centres. To mention a few companies: BAE Systems, INDRA, Airbus Group (former EADS), Leonardo (former Finmeccanica). The aforementioned GOP presented a report in 2016 and the Commission followed many of its recommendations regarding funding, intellectual property, a guaranteed market and, from 2021 on, a funding program well provided for.