European defence technogical and industrial base

The European Parliament adopted by 415 votes to 103 with 67 abstentions, a resolution on the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base.

Parliament recalled that the development of a strong European defence technological and industrial base (EDTIB) should be part of the strategic priorities of the EU. It welcomed the European Council's decision to put the strengthening of Europe's defence on the agenda for its December summit and called on the European Council to provide the necessary fresh and ambitious impetus in this area.

Reduction in budgets and investment: Parliament drew attention to the changing strategic global landscape, and to reduced defence budgets, caused especially by the economic and financial crisis. While some third countries such as China, India, Brazil and Russia are increasing their defence spending, EU defence budgets are being cut back.

In this context, the resolution urged Member States to reinforce European industrial cooperation with a view to ensuring, as far as possible, strategic autonomy by developing and producing efficient military and security capabilities using the most advanced technologies.

Harmonisation of requirements and consolidation of demand: in view of the fragmentation of demand in the EU, with 28 national defence customers, Parliament calls on the European Council to launch a European defence review process and asked the VP/HR to initiate a wide-ranging process to develop a White Paper on European Security and Defence.

Member States are asked to make the coordination of national defence planning processes at EU level a reality and to explore the possibility of synchronising the life-cycle management of their defence capabilities in cooperation with the European Defence Agency (EDA).

Industrial policy: according to Members, a European industrial defence policy should have the aim of 

·        optimising Member States’ capabilities by coordinating the development, deployment and maintenance of a range of capabilities, installations, equipment and services;

·        promote research and technology cooperation and by developing equipment cooperation programmes.

In acting on the fragmentation of the European industrial defence market, Parliament believed that it was time to promote a voluntary approach as regards supply and demand rules and standards. It also stated that it was time to invest in an integrated sustainable industrial policy based on research, innovation, increasing efficiency of resources, a strategy for raw materials, the strengthening of SMEs and the development of regional networks.

Member States were invited to:

·        develop their defence industrial and technological bases and centres of excellence around key technologies;

·        encourage cooperation between major defence companies and universities;

·        minimise unnecessary regulatory obstacles, to improve dialogue between defence undertakings and to promote the rationalisation.

Common approach to standardisation and certification: Members reiterated the fundamental importance of standardisation of defence equipment for the establishment of a competitive single European defence market, as well as for ensuring interoperability and facilitating cooperation on armaments programmes.

Member States were encouraged to:

·        explore the possibilities offered by the EDA in terms of drafting European standards for military products and applications, for example for the construction of hospital ships;

·        streamline European certification procedures, with the mutual recognition of certificates.

Ensuring security of supply: Parliament called on Member States, the EDA and the Commission:

·        to rapidly develop a comprehensive and ambitious EU-wide security-of-supply regime;

·        to submit a non-dependency strategy on critical technologies, in particular as regards unlimited access to and availability of civilian and military (dual-use) emerging and key enabling technologies, such as cutting-edge micro-/nano-electronics, artificial intelligence and photonics.

Giving a new impetus to armaments cooperation: Parliament:

·        recommended developing key enablers with civil-military applications, which are sorely lacking in the majority of the Member States, such as some remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS);

·        encouraged EU participation in joint projects through leasing and/or acquisition of dual-use capabilities and the possible procurement of prototypes;

·        urged the European Council to strengthen the existing administrative arrangement between the EDA and the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR).

Furthermore, the resolution stressed the need to:

·        support CSDP missions through European research and development using the Horizon 2020 research programme;

·        establish an appropriate platform for bringing defence research to the civilian sphere;

·        maintain the excellence of this technologically innovative and efficient industry in order to ensure the technological independence of the European Union;

·        increase cooperation between the European Union and its key partners for the safety and security of infrastructure and technology. Members wanted to see the development of cyber-security standards and the integration of these with international standards.

Strengthening the internal market in defence equipment: Parliament invited Member States to improve the transparency and increase the openness of their defence markets, while stressing the specific nature of defence procurement. It also invited the Commission to step up efforts to build a level playing field in the defence market, limiting the use of market-distorting practices to the strict minimum of duly justified derogations.