Our partner network EURODEFENSE recently sent a letter to Mr. Juncker on several important matters regarding R&D for defence and the European Defence Technology and Industrial Base (EDTIB). Main intention is to reach a reasonable level of European autonomy in defence related technology. The report was prepared in close cooperation with EDTA.
The main proposal to the European Commission for the objective of European autonomy consists in funding by the European Commission of typically military R&D programmes or co-funding with Member States cooperative R&D programmes, such as the future MALE system, through a dedicated defence budget line of the European Commission.
Other proposals in the letter are:
- To extend the ban on intra-EU offsets to offsets obtained from third-country vendors, with a view to avoiding the exclusion of EU vendors from the EU market;
- To lift the current exclusion of the EDTIB from participating in European programmes such as the Junker fund, or the EIB's loans, in order to be coherent with the present security and defence issues facing Europe.