Brussels, 22/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European defence industry should be at the service of the EU's strategic autonomy, rather than simply its competitiveness, said MEPs on the European Parliament's Security and Defence Sub-Committee on Wednesday 20 February in a debate with EU Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier. The Commissioner said that a boost to the European defence policy was urgently needed.
The defence industry is not an industry like any other because its strategic nature makes it stand out and requires special treatment, said Arnaud Danjean (EPP, France), chair of the subcommittee. He said the December 2013 European Summit would be important in this connection because it will look at security and defence issues and member states' responsibility for making a success of them. Barnier said that if there is the political will to make progress with Europe's defence policy, then one had to be ready to respond. He briefed the MEPs on the work of the European Commission task force on the defence industry and its markets, support for small business, dual civilian-military capacity, research, the arms trade and the role that the EU could play in ensuring EU exporters get access to markets elsewhere in the world, particularly the United States.
The MEPs said a competitive industrial basis was needed in Europe to ensure the common European defence and security industry remained operational amidst the current rash of budget cuts. The Commissioner said that when it comes to security and defence industries, what Europe doesn't do for itself, nobody else will do for it. (LC/transl.fl)