An additional obstacle to the EU's intentions to increase the production of ammunition in the countries of the bloc may be the lack of labor, as the problems are still felt now.
This is stated in the Euractiv publication.
Before the presentation of the corresponding plan of the European Commission, several representatives of the European defense industry told Euractiv on the condition of anonymity that they still had "difficult times" with hiring employees.
To implement the EU's intentions and increase production, companies will need both factory workers and engineers. If enough workers cannot be found, plans to increase production will be in jeopardy.
According to them, the long-term perspective of contracts and investments would help defense industry companies, because otherwise they are wary of offering long-term contracts to new employees, and the specialized training of specialists in a very narrow specialty in this field also requires time and understanding that these investments in the employee will pay off.
European Commissioner Thierry Breton, when asked if Brussels was aware of the issue, said the European Commission was aware of it and the topic was being discussed.
"In all the production facilities that I visited, we primarily talked about skills and abilities, because systems and machines are controlled by people," said the European Commissioner, adding that indeed some specialties require long-term training.
According to him, the member states have already made proposals on how to solve it.
"We can use the European Social Fund... We are trying to find solutions and think outside the box," said Breton.
He drew parallels with the emergency deployment of vaccine production during the coronavirus pandemic, which was largely achieved thanks to the sharing of experience and the development of partnerships.
"Some defense and military enterprises worked as if "in a bunker" and did not particularly look at what was being done around them," he added.
