Mick Wallace Condemns EIB's Shift Toward Arms and Dual-Use Funding
Mick Wallace criticised a report that supports the EIB's financial backing for European Security and Defence, including the Strategic European Security Initiative that commits up to €6 billion to dual-use projects. He argued the European Parliament is complicit in efforts to remove lending restrictions that prevent the EIB from investing in arms and core defence projects and said the EIB should have nothing to do with the arms industry.
Report backing for EIB defence funding
The report supports the EIB's financial support for European Security and Defence and specifically welcomes the EIB's Strategic European Security Initiative, which commits up to €6 billion to dual-use projects seeking to develop security and defence systems.
Calls to expand investment
The report calls on the EIB to expand the initiative and to increase its investments in European security and defence, urging greater bank involvement in dual-use and defence-related projects.
Institutional pressure cited
Wallace said the European Parliament is now complicit in relentless attempts by the Council, the Commission, the European Defence Agency and the arms industry to undermine restrictions that prevent the EIB from investing in arms and core defence projects.
Criticism of EIB's role and roadmap reference
He noted the Commission's 2022 roadmap on critical technologies for security and defence lamented the EIB's lending restrictions and warned that the bank should have nothing to do with the arms industry, calling the trend a serious and unwelcome indicator.
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This report supports the EIB's financial support for European Security and Defence. It specifically welcomes the EIB's Strategic European Security Initiative. That initiative commits up to €6 billion to dual-use projects seeking to develop security and defence systems. The report even calls on the EIB to expand the initiative and to increase its investments in European security and defence. The European Parliament is now complicit in the relentless attempts by the Council, the Commission, the European Defence Agency, as well as the arms industry to undermine the restrictions that prevent the EIB from investing in arms and core defence projects. In its 2022 roadmap on critical technologies for security and defence, the Commission lamented the fact that the EIB's lending policy still had restrictions that prevented from lending to the defence sector. The EIB should have nothing to do with the arms industry and this is a serious indicator of where it's going and it's not good. Thank you.
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