Brussels, 25/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission's action plan on the defence and security sector, which was presented on Wednesday 24 July (see EUROPE 10894 and 10895), has provoked contrasting reactions from three MEPs - two of whom sit on the European Parliament's sub-committee on security and defence (SEDE).
British Conservative Geoffrey Van Orden was not convinced by President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso when Barroso gave assurances at a press conference that this initiative in no way suggests an EU military ambition. In Van Orden's opinion, the Commission is obsessed with creating a European defence technological and industrial base (DTIB), which the Commission considers fundamental for its military ambitions. The problem that this poses is not only the fact that this is about a clear step towards European political integration, but also the fact that today nothing can confirm that the involvement of the European institutions in the defence industry sector will be beneficial, Van Orden states in a press release.
Van Orden's opinion is not shared by Arnaud Danjean (EPP, France, and chair of the SEDE) in the slightest. In Danjean's opinion, the possibility of the EU's acquiring civil-military capabilities, as well as some possible Community investment in research and development in these dual-purpose technologies, are promising avenues. While what the Commission is doing is legitimate, it is also up to the member states, which still hold most of the responsibility for defence, to be fully aware of the threat of strategic decommissioning of the European continent, and to agree on the political and capability priorities in order to arrest this dramatic trend, Danjean says. Jean-Pierre Audy (EPP, France) is of the same opinion, saying that the cuts in national defence budgets must lead to the idea of sharing resources at European level and of supporting the European defence industry through research. (JK/transl.fl)