Brussels, 23/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - Creating a new thematic defence research programme with a budget of at least €3.5 billion in the future EU research and innovation framework programme is the main recommendation put forward by the Group of Personalities (GoP). On Tuesday 23 February, the latter submitted its report to the Commissioner for the Internal Market and Industry, Elzbieta Bienkowska.
This group was appointed just under a year ago (see EUROPE 11285) as part of the conclusions of the December 2013 European Council to draft a report on preparatory action for Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) related research (this is due to be put in place for the 2017-19 period) and the future of defence research in Europe. The report submitted should help provide material for the European Commission's work on the European defence action plan expected sometime this year.
In its recommendations, presented in the form of a report from the EU's Institute for Security Studies (ISS), the GoP calls for preparatory action (a sort of test before developing the thematic programme in the next Multiannual Financial Framework) to be provided with a budget of between €75-100 million. With regard to the future thematic programme, no less than €3.5 billion would be required to make it “credible” and make “a substantial difference” in the level of cooperation between member states in key capability domains.
The report can be consulted at the following website:
http://www.iss.europa.eu/uploads/media/GoP_report.pdf (Jan Kordys)