Macron's Romania Visit Disappoints French Arms Firms

On his brief stop-over in Romania on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macro did not secure any promises from Romania to buy French military equipment, representatives of weapon and aircraft manufacturers who accompanied the delegation said on Thursday.

Both French missile systems manufacturer MBDA and aircraft constructor Airbus signed memorandums of cooperation with Romanian state companies in Macron's presence.

But the companies voiced worries that the documents did not offer any guarantees that Romania will actually buy French weapons, despite French investments in local factories.

French and American arms manufacturers are competing for billions of euros in contracts to arm Romania, especially after it increased its defence budget to 2 percent of GDP, as NATO requires.

This means a 3.6-billion-euro budget, to be spent mostly on modernizing the army, which still uses Soviet-made equipment.

However, the Romanian government moved to seal more deals with the United States in 2017 and French companies fear their investments may not generate returns.

MBDA on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Romanian state weapons manufacturer Romarm to set up a working group to negotiate a deal between the company and the Romanian army on equipping it with short-range missiles, the company announced.

MBDA general manager Antoine Bouvier met journalists on Thursday night, after Macron's visit, and explained that a deal might also include the transfer of technology and even of some production to Romania.

Romania's short-range and very short-range missile systems need to be replaced and the government has allocated 2 billion euros over 10 years to re-equip the army. The French manufacturer is a serious candidate for...