The expected US decision to not deploy Tomahawk intermediate-range missiles and other weaponry in Germany is a wake-up call, according to EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
"It clearly gives us a sign that we really, really need to speed up the defence production ourselves," said Kallas on Tuesday, as she arrived at a meeting of EU defence ministers in Brussels.
The European Union must also speed up joint procurement and be able to produce the defence capabilities it needs itself, she said.
The US administration under Donald Trump is expected to shelve plans for the deployment of mid-range missiles in Germany after Washington announced the withdrawal of approximately 5,000 US troops from Germany.
Under an agreement reached with the previous US administration, the United States was to deploy intermediate-range missiles with conventional warheads, capable of reaching far into Russia, in Germany from 2026.
These were to include Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of up to 2,500 kilometres, SM-6 missiles, and newly developed hypersonic weapons.
The government in Berlin is now hoping to purchase Tomahawk cruise missiles instead. According to a report in the German daily Die Welt," the possibility of producing the missiles in Germany in the future is also being assessed.
State Secretary for Defence Sebastian Hartmann declined to comment on possible talks with the US.
Hartmann said, however, that there was "a shared interest on both sides of the Atlantic" in having more production capabilities.
Hartmann further pointed out that Germany was also expending its own capabilities. "It's about deterring an aggressor like Russia," he said. "Only deterrence will keep an aggressor from attacking us."
