Can Keir trust Macron?

Coffee House Shots

The Spectator

News, Politics, Government, Daily News

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🗓️ 20 March 2025

⏱️ 13 minutes

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Summary

It’s a big day in defence. Keir Starmer began the day in Barrow talking about nuclear subs and will end the day in a meeting of the ‘coalition of the willing’ on the outskirts of London. But that coalition seems like it could be undermined by the European Commission’s decision to exclude non-EU arms makers from the bloc’s new €150 billion defence fund. Officials are keen to stress that this is not a done deal yet, but this would be a massive blow for the UK (and the US) and a big win for France. With Europe rearming, who stands to benefit? And what should we expect from the meeting of military officials later today?

Oscar Edmondson speaks to James Heale and Eliot Wilson, former clerk to the House of Commons, including on the Defence Committee.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of Coffee House Shots is sponsored by Alliance Witten Investment Trust. From the OPEC
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0:46.3	Hello and welcome to Coffee House Shots, the spectator's Daily Politics Podcast. I'm
0:50.7	Oskredminton and I'm joined today by James Heel and Elliot Wilson, who is a former clerk in the House of Commons, including on the Defence Committee and also a member of RUSI.
1:01.5	Now, it's a big day in defence. Kirstama began the day in Barrow talking about nuclear submarines and will end a day in a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing on the outskirts of London on how best to help out Ukraine.
1:13.8	But, Elliot, I wanted to start on the European Commission's decision to exclude non-EU arms makers from the bloc's new £150 billion defence fund.
1:22.9	Can you tell us firstly what that fund is, what it aims to achieve, and the conditions for entry?
1:29.4	Well, essentially what the European Commission is proposing is that they will go to the capital
1:34.5	markets and set up a fund of about 150 billion euros, which will then be available for
1:41.1	EU member states to access in order to buy military equipment to upgrade their
1:46.8	capabilities. And the white paper from the commission particularly mentions missile defense,
1:53.0	drones and cyber security, because those are obviously hot button issues. The problem with the
2:00.1	fund as it's set up is that in order to spend the money,
2:04.6	it has to be spent with defence manufacturers who are either entirely within the EU or who are
2:12.3	in a country which has signed a security pact with the EU. Obviously that excludes American defence firms, but that's
2:19.9	no surprise. We thought that would probably happen. But it also excludes Turkish defence firms,
	...

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