Brussels – Regulatory and financial certainty, with a single European legislative framework and resources available for an extended time frame. Much of the future of the defence industry passes through here, and this is what the defence industry is emphasizing at the Connact Defence & Security 2025 event, titled “Common European Defence: Financing and Industrial Integration”, organized by Connact, the event platform that fosters discussion between private actors and institutions through moments of meeting and networking.
“We need a single regulatory framework; otherwise, there can be no inter-operability,” cut short Domitilla Benigni, CEO & COO of Elettronica SpA and president of CY4GATE SpA, who applauds the European Commission’s initiative to dedicate at least €150 billion to the industry through the “Rearm Europe” plan, but that should be considered as a first step. “Investments are welcome, but they can’t end in 2030. A company cannot think five years ahead; we must look beyond that. Otherwise, companies will not hold out.”
Benigni is not backing down; on the contrary, “We feel aligned with the needs of Europe, and we are ready.” However, EU institutions must also play their part. She explains, “We need a truly European supply chain because today, European technologies are often not at the forefront.” 
Stefano Pontecorvo, president of Leonardo SpA, is clear and schematic: “What does the defence industry need? Clear rules, with a reliable regulatory framework, and contracts.” Above all, a simplification process that allows work to be done on time. He tells the Connact audience that to make a truck, “we had to apply for and get four antitrust approvals.” A useful anecdote to denounce those “bureaucratic obstacles that the industry does not need today” and against which he calls for the intervention of national and European politics.
Pontecorvo, like Benigni, also calls attention to the need to work toward a true, complete supply chain. “With our supply chain, we are trying to identify who could complete the product, subcontracting and freeing up investment space, and growing our small and medium enterprises.” Again, there are implicit suggestions for policies that would serve the purpose.
Finally, a warning related to current events represented by the trade tensions triggered by the U.S. president’s choices. “70 per cent of everything goes through the Chinese, who have not only raw materials but also 20-30-year contracts with other countries,” especially in Africa, to which they add the agreements with Latin American countries. “The Chinese response to Trump is the restriction on exports, and this harms industrial capacity,” is the alarm bell rung by Leonardo’s president.
Davide Cucino, head of Fincantieri activities at the EU and NATO, also requests regulatory interventions to harmonise and improve rules. First, he laments, “we have a speed problem.” Therefore, the European Commission’s initiative to simplify in the name of competitiveness is viewed with great interest. “The omnibus package on defence will make it possible to jump the gun, speed up a process of technological innovation, and participate in competitions.” However, more will be needed, such as reorganising EU spending.
“One of the difficulties we had until yesterday, for example, is Horizon Europe and the defence fund,” two different EU funding programs, which as such, however, are unrelated and not at all inter-correlated. As Fincantieri, Cucino notes, “We tried to coordinate some Horizon themes to be preparatory for defence, but this was not possible due to different timelines” of the two different funds and programs. Hence, appropriate adjustments are needed, although he admits, “on fragmentation, I have doubts for the short to medium term,” as having a single European framework, both regulatory and industrial, “is a long program.”
One thing can be done, however, according to Cucino, as of now: recognize greater centrality to the maritime, and therefore naval, dimension. “Military mobility is an interesting topic for us, although, from a naval point of view, we haven’t been very present.” Therefore, the head of Fincantieri‘s activities at the EU and NATO urges “considering ships as an infrastructure for military movement and mobility.” Today, only icebreaker ships are considered infrastructure, and this should be reviewed.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
