Plans to create a new €13 billion European Defence Fund were
today approved in the European Parliament's Industry Committee.
The proposals, which are being steered through the parliament by
ECR Polish MEP Zdzisław Krasnodębski, will provide financing to
help Member States pool military procurement resources more
effectively and finance cross-border investment in interoperable
defence products and technologies. Under the currently foreseen
budget, €4.1 billion will be provided to cover up to the totality
of collaborative defence research projects, while €8.9 billion
will be available to complement Member States' investment through
the co-financing of technologies and products jointly developed
by the European defence industry.
Speaking after the vote, Krasnodębski said:
"Joint investment will help Member States to reduce duplication
and improve the interoperability of defence equipment. It should
also drive advances in technology through better coordinated
tender calls.
"We need to allocate further resources to closing the gap between
breakthroughs in research and the time it takes for that research
to reach the market in the form of innovative technologies. This
should also see us provide more support for SMEs and mid-caps who
are important defence industry players in a number of Member
States. I hope the European Defence Fund will help them to build
stronger cross border partnerships.
"Internationally, we need to ensure the fund is more open to the
EU's third country security partners, particularly those
that guarantee our security through the NATO alliance, while
making sure entities controlled by countries under EU sanctions
are excluded from the fund."
