BRUSSELS (Reuters) – NATO chief Mark Rutte warned the European Union on Monday not to create “obstacles” that would prevent companies from NATO countries outside the bloc from joining the push in the defense industry.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, pushed a proposal last year to spend 1.5 billion euros to give countries an incentive to buy jointly from European companies and encourage industry to raise the capacity, but EU capitals have not yet agreed on how much pot. should be reserved for EU companies.