MEPs voted for the report by Zdzisław Krasnodębski (ECR, Poland) on the European Defence Fund by a relative majority (337 votes in favour, 178 against and 109 abstentions) in the second round of voting during the Strasbourg plenary session on Wednesday 12 December.
Article 7 on ethical aspects has been the subject of much attention, with the Greens and S&D attempting to introduce a mechanism allowing the European Commission to reject an action already validated if the ethical aspects are no longer respected. Their amendments were not adopted.
As a reminder, during the vote in the Industry, Research and Energy Committee (see EUROPE 12142) on 21 November, MEPs did not amend the Fund's budget, unlike Horizon Europe in particular (see other news). On the other hand, they had strengthened the eligibility conditions for companies with a link to a third country, and set ex ante conditions for monitoring the ethical aspects of a funded project.
In commission, a bonus was added for any project involving cross-border cooperation between mid caps. MEPs had agreed that at least 5 to 10% of the budget allocated should be dedicated to disruptive technologies, while the Commission proposed to allocate up to 5% of the total budget.
The Council reached a political agreement (general approach) last November. The first trilogue is expected to take place on 10 January. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)