Main image: Undated photo of a protest against developing the arms industry in Troisdorf. [X, formerly Twitter]
Efforts by Europe to increase arms production and aid to Ukraine have encountered obstacles in the German city of Troisdorf, where local authorities are blocking the expansion plans of a major arms company.
According to Euractiv, this year, 27 EU members pledged to increase supplies of critically needed artillery shells to Ukraine.
"The Mayor of Troisdorf rarely plays a role in international politics, but at the beginning of December, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius called on the local official in parliament to take responsibility for slowing down the project," the report states.
It is reported that over the course of several weeks, there have been misunderstandings between the Troisdorf authorities and the arms giant Diehl Defence, whose local factory produces igniters needed, in particular, for rockets and missile charges.
These components are used in the production of the IRIS-T air defense system, three of which were supplied to Ukraine by the German government.
The facility in Troisdorf plays a crucial role in Europe's goals of supporting Ukraine. The EU has pledged to provide one million artillery shells to Ukraine by March 2024.
The German share of the EU plan is expected to reach 300-400 thousand shells per year, more than triple the production volumes at the time of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
Indeed, the company Diehl Defence now sees the future of its factory in Troisdorf under serious threat. The city has decided to claim a part of the business park where the subsidiary of the DynITEC group is based.
The arms manufacturer wanted to purchase the land that the former weapons company Dynamit Nobel put up for sale to expand its production facilities.
On the other hand, the local authorities plan to transform the plot, equivalent to 50 football fields, located near the city center, into residential and office buildings.
"Casting doubt on the site in Troisdorf, we are undermining the defense capability of the Federal Republic of Germany," warns Thomas Bodenmüller, a member of the board of directors of Diehl Defence.
City council members refused to sacrifice such a large area in the city center. According to local authorities, the production of explosives and munitions requires extensive safety zones around the factory that cannot be built upon for security reasons.
Despite intermediary meetings before the Christmas holidays, a compromise has not yet been reached. And this is not the only case of such resistance.
Earlier this year, the Rheinmetall Group, another flagship of the German arms industry, announced that it would not build a new powder production plant for ammunition in the Saxony region in eastern Germany.
The project raised concerns among the local population, and without public approval, Rheinmetall relocated the project to another location in Bavaria
