Protecting home defence industry is a problem for all EU countries, says German defence minister

Germany's Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has rejected criticism in Berlin that Germany is putting its defence industry above European defence cooperation. Speaking at the Berlin Security Conference on Wednesday, the SPD politician said Germany wanted that cooperation and was acting no differently from other countries.

Pistorius was responding to criticism from Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann of the FDP, who chairs the European Parliament's defence committee. She had accused Germany of concentrating too much on weapons from German manufacturers instead of cooperating with European partners.

Pistorius said everyone unanimously said every day that they wanted more cooperation in defence and more joint armaments projects. But when it came down to it, he said, every country said just as unanimously, each for itself, that its own industry must not fall behind.

He said protecting the domestic defence industry was a problem all EU countries had to contend with, and that governments also had a responsibility to protect their economies and industries.

Addressing Strack-Zimmermann, Pistorius said he would reject the criticism in her question. If there was criticism to be made, he said, it should be directed not against Germany but against literally all Europeans with a defence industry.

The dispute highlights a problem for Europe's ambitions. EU states want to build stronger armed forces and procure more jointly for that purpose, yet governments are also keen to protect jobs and factories in their own countries.

The figures show the same tension. In 2025, EU countries spent 115 billion euros on military equipment. According to the European Defence Agency, 24 percent of that spending went on joint procurement. Brussels wants that share to reach at least 40 percent by 2030.

To move countries to buy weapons jointly rather than individually, the EU has launched the 150 billion euro SAFE programme of weapons loans. Yet governments often hesitate to award large defence contracts to companies in other countries.

The Polish government has said it wants to spend 89 percent of the nearly 44 billion euros it receives from the SAFE fund on its domestic industry. Pistorius defended that approach, saying governments also had a responsibility to protect their economies and industries.