Buy European First
MUNICH/LONDON A German corporation is seen as the leading contender for a contract, worth billions, from the British Ministry of Defense. London plans to announce ,,shortly"which company will be awarded the contract for approximately 8,000 military transport vehicles. Politically, the order which is valued at roughly 3 billion Pounds (4.5 billion Euro), is considered especially prestigious. Since the middle of the 70s it is Europe's biggest military truck order. The British defense ministry had already awarded two major contracts to the German-French conglomerate EADS. Due to its increased weapons purchases on the European continent, Great Britain is being drawn more and more into the fold of the EU armaments program.
Confidence
Both German truck manufacturers MAN and Mercedes-Benz, as well as the US companies Stewart & Stevenson and Oshkosh Truck Corp., competed for the contract. It is assumed that the Munich armaments company MAN has the best chance for being awarded the contract and it claims: ,,We are very confident about the contract." 1)MAN is one of the leading European machine and utility vehicle companies, it employs 64,000 employees world wide and 75% of its sales are abroad. Currently the company is building a truck production facility in the People's Republic of China and competes for major contracts for power stations in occupied Iraq.
Prospect
With the hoped for sale of military transports, worth billions, the company could profit from the take-over of the British truck producer ERF which it purchased in March of 2000: MAN entices the British ministry with its offer for final assembly in Great Britain in order to secure jobs for the country. Meanwhile, the German company benefits from its production site of utility vehicles in Austria: Agreeing to invest in Austria in return, the fighter jet Eurofighter, in which Great Britain participates, was sold to Vienna. The Austrian government has already agreed to acknowledge the award of the armaments contracts to MAN as compensation for the Eurofighter agreement.
Pride
If the contract is, indeed, awarded to the German company, it would be the second recent major British contract which its ally, the USA, loses to the European competition. Although Great Britain is considered the closest political and military ally of the USA, the defense ministry buys increasingly ,,European."At the beginning of the year, the German-French armaments corporation EADS succeeded in its competition with the USA's Boeing company in supplying the British airforce with new military tanker planes worth billions. In the middle of October of last year EADS had already secured a major contract for the installation of the military satellite program ,,Skynet 5". The German EADS co-chief, Hertrich, proudly stated: ,,Finally we are becoming the second largest supplier for the British armed forces. With more than 16,000 employees we are one of the largest employers in our branch." 2)
Torn
The British government's political seesawing between Washington and the German-French market cartel becomes more and more skewed. London, together with the USA and EU members, e.g. Italy, forms an anti-German opposition to stem a German resurgence to world power. To ,,prevent a German-French double hegemony in Europe"without losing its influence on the rapidly increasing militarizing of the EU, Great Britain strengthens its economic and military bonds with Berlin and Paris. Following Berlin's demand for a policy of centralization of armaments, by excluding US competition ( ,,the EU must adopt a 'Buy European First' strategy"), however, London becomes vulnerable to a ,,German-French double hegemony in Europe." 3)
The compression of internal European and transatlantic big power competition increasingly conjures up political confrontations reminiscent of history prior to both world wars.
1) MAN mischt beim Poker um britischen Milliardenauftrag mit; Handelsblatt 06.09.2004
2) see also Sentiments of Spring
3) see also Criminal, Honest Brokerand The End of ,,Civilian Power"
Sources:
MAN: Kraftwerke für den Irak?; Wirtschaftswoche 18.08.2004
MAN Oesterreich hofft auf neue Kraft aus der Fusion; WirtschaftsBlatt 14.09.2004
MAN: Kuehne Plaene; Capital 15.09.2004
MAN baut Lkw in China; Sueddeutsche Zeitung 18.09.2004
Starke deutsche Beteiligung an battlegroups; Frankfurter Rundschau 18.09.2004
