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<TITLE>Dr. Wolfgang Piller...European Prerequisites for Transatlantic
Cooperation</TITLE>
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<CENTER><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+4">European Prerequisites for
Transatlantic Cooperation</FONT></FONT></CENTER>
<CENTER><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+3">Dr. Wolfgang Piller</FONT></FONT></CENTER>
<CENTER><I><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+2">Daimler-Benz Aerospace
AG</FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT SIZE="+1"> </FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">I would like to discuss the
European prerequisites for true transatlantic defense cooperation from an
industrialist's point of view. My analysis will look at the relationship
between political and defense cooperation in Europe using the aerospace
industry as an example of strategic importance.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Let me stress from the onset
that there are three key prerequisites to true transatlantic defense
cooperation. First, Europe must do more for its own security, enabling the
United States to commit itself elsewhere in the world. In order to become
a true transatlantic partner, Europe must become a player that--at least
in a European political and geographical context--can act strategically on
its own. Second, a unified Europe can become an equal partner for the
United States only if the European Union becomes a real political union
and can preserve security, stability, sovereignty, and economic
well-being. Third, Europe must be able to speak with one voice and act as
one entity. It is my firm belief that there will be no real European Union
without a common foreign and security policy.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">I am sure that these three
points go without saying and were often voiced during the Workshop.
Interestingly, however, only the industrialists concluded that a fortified
European industrial base is the precondition for an enhanced European
foreign and security policy.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER></CENTER>
<CENTER><B><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+1">THE NEED FOR A
FORTIFIED EUROPEAN DEFENSE INDUSTRY</FONT></FONT></B></CENTER>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Europe must have a minimum
defense industry that provides the capabilities, capacities, and
technologies necessary to implement a common foreign and security policy
and to execute it, if necessary, by military means. This requires that
Europe maintain its competitiveness and bundle its forces and resources.
It also requires that Europe have a competitive aerospace industry. At
this point, however, the various national markets in Europe are far too
small to maintain or to create the necessary technological capabilities
and minimum capacities.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">This difficulty is compounded by
a number of related problems:</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">a. Unlike the United States of
America, we are not the "United States of Europe," but rather a
patchwork of nations.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">b. We lack a truly common
foreign and security policy.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">c. We lack common economic,
industrial, and technological policies.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">d. There is no uniform European
law, no uniform fiscal structure, and no single social policy.</FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">e. The export guidelines of each
European Union (EU) member-country differ significantly.</FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">f. There is no consensus in
Europe about the significance of the strategic aerospace industry for
Europe.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">g. Redundant aerospace
capabilities have been built up in EU member-states sometimes using
structural funding; so we are using taxpayers' money to weaken Europe's
aerospace industry.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">h. In most sectors, the
principle of "no money across the border" still applies; in
other words, there is purely national procurement.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">i. Costs for developing modern
weapon systems are skyrocketing.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">j. The dominance of United
States manufacturers on the world's export markets is overwhelming,
because they are an instrument of American foreign and security policy, a
tool of U.S. power projection worldwide.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">k. Foreign military sales
establish worldwide political dependencies as well as open markets for the
American aerospace and defense industry.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">l. Europe has no single foreign
and security policy, so our aerospace industry cannot be an instrument of
it. In fact, there is no European aerospace industry, only a number of
relatively small, competing national industries.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">m. The defense market in the
United States is a closed one of some $100 billion with just a few strong
players; the European market is not even half that size, while it is
fragmented into more than a dozen national pieces.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">n. Markets in Europe, like those
in the U.S., are sinking rapidly; government budgets for procurement have
been sharply reduced. But the fragmented national industries in Europe
have and will become critical much faster than their U.S. competitors, who
can merge and concentrate on the home market (which is still a large one)
in their huge unified country.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">To sum up, then, there is no
alternative to thinking and acting together in the framework of an
industrial and political division of labor: what we need is a unified,
consolidated European market that includes the new democracies of Central
Europe.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER></CENTER>
<CENTER><B><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+1">CREATING A UNIFIED
EUROPEAN MARKET</FONT></FONT></B></CENTER>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">What are the political and
industrial requirements to create a unified, consolidated European market
as a prerequisite for true transatlantic defense cooperation? There are
several points:</FONT></FONT> </P>
<UL>
<LI><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">On the political level,
European security and foreign policy need to be harmonized. This
includes integrating Eastern European and CIS countries into a European
security framework.</FONT></FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">There is an urgent need for
European foreign ministers and ministers of defense, economics, and
technology to discuss and define the industrial and technological
prerequisites for a European foreign and security policy.</FONT></FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Just as Americans advocate a
policy of "buy American," Europeans need to agree upon and
enforce a policy of "buy European." This will only be possible
within the framework of a political union. EU member-countries that do
not have their own military aerospace industry must be included in such
a policy; without them, a single European defense market would be too
small to support a sufficient industrial base in the aerospace industry.</FONT></FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">France and Germany should
harmonize their national defense, armament, and procurement policies as
soon as possible. This Franco-German cooperation should become the
nucleus for a common European defense, armament, and technology policy.</FONT></FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">A common and consistent
European research and technology policy is needed. Before this can
occur, however, we need to prioritize technologies for the future in
strategic industries such as aerospace and define the technological
capabilities we would like to have as well as a complementary pattern of
cooperation and specialization. We must make up our minds who should
concentrate on what and with whom. In this context, cooperation between
national research institutions in the aerospace sector must be
strengthened and intensified. Only then will we be able to support and
develop a rich variety of aeronautical demonstrator and experimental
projects, like those on which American industries have built both their
military and civilian market successes.</FONT></FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">EU structural funds should be
used to strengthen key industries of strategic importance.</FONT></FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">The aerospace industry
infrastructure must be Europeanized. We need to create competitive
centers of competence in order to eliminate redundant capacities. It is
absolute nonsense to use EU funds to build up redundant capabilities in
member-countries that do not yet have an aerospace industry.</FONT></FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">The CIS countries have by far
the greatest aerospace industry based on the number of staff there. We
must be prepared for low-cost deliveries from the CIS countries into our
established markets and develop a common European strategy on how we can
cooperate with and make use of the technological and industrial
potential of the former Soviet Union.</FONT></FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Privatization of aerospace
and defense industries should be speeded up in all European countries.
Without privatization, we will not be able to consolidate and
concentrate our industries in the manner of the American model.</FONT></FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">We need to harmonize European
company antitrust and export laws, particularly arms export laws, in
accordance with the requirements of a global industry.</FONT></FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Military and civilian
research and technology must no longer be kept separated. Separate
efforts do not make sense, either from a technological or an industrial
point of view, and with regard to the changing international
environment.</FONT></FONT></LI>
</UL>
<CENTER><B><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+1">CONCLUDING REMARKS</FONT></FONT></B></CENTER>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Unless this list of conditions I
have identified is met, Europe will be unable to create and maintain an
independent competitive aerospace and defense industry. This is not just a
question of economic and industrial policy; what is at stake is Europe's
ability to become a real partner in the new transatlantic relationship:
what is at stake is Europe's contribution to shaping a new and stable
order in Europe and beyond, as well as Europe's very sovereignty.</FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0"><A HREF="Piller.htm">Go to Top
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