Exclusive: Radosław Sikorski also says he favours deepest possible inclusion of UK in EU defence structures
  • Riddick3001@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    111·
    6 months ago

    If this quote is still true, then there are still no ( longterm structural) procurement contracts. What are we doing, and when are memberstates/Council going to do it, wtf. He said:

    “Companies were telling me, ‘We read in the newspapers that there is all this demand for armaments but we are not getting the long-term contracts. And if we don’t have a 10-year contract, we are responsible to our shareholders. We can’t make the investments.’ So it’s about guaranteeing them that this is not just for tomorrow, but this is a long-term rearmament and change in security.”

    • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      141·
      6 months ago

      Sounds like the government shouldn’t rely on what’s profitable for shareholders and instead manufacture them directly at-cost. If the corporations who own the technology and patents can’t meet the needs of national security then they themselves are a threat to national security, and should be nationalised.

    • RubberDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      6 months ago

      The question is also which companies are complaining. But it does seem like the European defense strategy needs more attention and standardize the militaries.

      One type of apc platform, one type of mbt etc etc. but this is all long term.

      But you also hear of the excuse making like Germany with the Taurus… it wil take months to start and then the manufacturer states they can start production next month and include upgrades as well.

      I hope this gets sorted.

    • maynarkh@feddit.nlEnglish
      3·
      6 months ago

      And our best ally is the US. Go figure.

      We really need to get this sorted out.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    1·
    6 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    Sikorski has been a critical figure in taking Poland back to the mainstream of European foreign policy since elections last October led to a new coalition government and an end to eight years of rule by the rightwing nationalist Law and Justice party.

    He had just come from a meeting in Berlin with the foreign ministers of France and Germany in the so-called Weimar triangle format, a grouping now seen as the new political powerhouse of the EU.

    Although he said Russia was winning mainly small pyrrhic victories, the Weimar group backed a broadly drawn attempt to fill big gaps in EU defence capabilities formed at the end of the cold war.

    I think the Russians about 15 years ago did some polling, or maybe they just noticed that on some issues like attitudes to homosexuality, gender, to all kinds of identities, you can drive wedges in our societies.

    Although he said the Weimar triangle would have expanded to a quartet but for Brexit, Sikorski said Poland favoured “the deepest possible inclusion of the United Kingdom in the EU security and defence structures, if you so wish”.

    Asked whether it was permissible for Ukraine to strike military targets inside Russia, he said: “The Russians are hitting the Ukrainian’s electricity grid and their grain terminals and gas storage capacity, civilian infrastructure.

    The original article contains 1,150 words, the summary contains 220 words. Saved 81%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!