BRUSSELS — At least a third of EU countries support a German-led plan to allow the U.K. and Canada to take part in a scheme for common purchases of weapons.
EU ambassadors on Thursday discussed a plan to offer countries €150 billion in cheap loans to spend on defense, but the Berlin-led effort to include the non-EU countries ran into opposition from France, which rejected London’s participation.
“The French ambassador was quite vocal about this … he warned that would cause delays” to the scheme, said an EU diplomat who, like others quoted in this story, was granted anonymity to speak freely.
France is determined to secure more advantageous fishing rights in return for a U.K.-EU defense deal, according to several officials.
The Security Action For Europe (SAFE) loan plan is part of a broader package that includes exempting defense spending from EU budget limits set and channeling private funding toward the defense industry.
The thorniest issue, however, is whether the U.K., Canada and the U.S. would be allowed to take part in joint purchases under the initiative. According to the Commission’s initial framework, they are out as they do not have a defense deal with the EU.
The proposal limits joint procurement to Ukraine, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein, as well as countries vying to join the EU and those with a security and defense partnership with Brussels.
A group of around 10 countries including Germany, Netherlands and Sweden supported opening the joint procurement scheme to the U.K. and Canada.
“We all agree on what should be done: more openness. But there are different approaches on how to get there,” said an EU diplomat.
A smaller group of countries also supported greater involvement of the U.S.
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