Big eyes on pollution and chemical use: the EU's plan to boost rearmament

BrusselsMore exceptional measures from Brussels to boost the rearmament of the European UnionThe European Commission announced this Tuesday that it will slightly reform EU legislation to give priority to public administrations for industrial weapons projects and make them eligible for greater public and private funding, and to boost joint EU arms purchases. Furthermore, with the same objective, the EU executive is urging Member States to be more flexible with the environmental and safety requirements for chemical products that currently govern the arms industry.

First, the European Commission will speed up the processing of arms industry projects that must be approved by the authorities. According to EU sources, some of these approvals could take up to five years, as they were subject to numerous security-related filters. However, from now on, they will have to receive a final response within a maximum of 60 days. If the administration does not respond during this period, the project will automatically receive the green light.

Along the same lines, the EU executive has assured that it will reduce paperwork for companies seeking to benefit from European defense funds, which have been deployed to contribute to EU rearmament. Furthermore, Brussels will strengthen coordination of joint arms purchases among Member States to accelerate arms manufacturing and secure contracts at better prices.

More leeway in controls

The same EU sources assert that the EU must remain "strict" in its controls on the dangers of chemicals used in the arms industry, but invites Member States to streamline the evaluation of arms projects and to be more clear in their prohibitions or permits. In this regard, it gives each state government free rein to generally designate whether a chemical is legal or not and to avoid analyzing its use in specific projects on a "case-by-case" basis, which the European Commission believes slows down the validation process and creates uncertainty for potential investors. The EU sources cite as an example the chemicals used in ammunition powder, which they assert are unclear in many countries as to whether they are prohibited or allowed to be used.

Brussels also points out that EU legislation already provides for exceptions to some environmental controls and for expediting administrative procedures in cases of urgency or crisis, such as the war in Ukraine and the threat posed by Russian expansionism. However, the EU executive avoids specifying which regulations can be ignored due to force majeure issues such as this one.

The same EU sources explain that they will publish a list of types of military industrial projects that can receive the ESG label (environment, social responsibility, and governance). This classification is given to business initiatives that are responsible to the environment and society, and makes them more attractive to potential investors, both public and private. In this way, for example, governments and banks could finance the war industry, which generally does not enjoy popular support, and still display the ESG acronym.