Alain Alexis, Acting Director at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space (DEFIS), announced on Thursday 29 October that initial funds for those projects selected under the European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP) would be disbursed in the coming weeks.
“We are in the process of signing the grant agreements. As soon as they have been signed, it will be possible to pre-finance projects”, explained Mr Alexis to the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE). “We will start giving out the first euro amounts over the next few weeks”, he added.
For 2019, 16 projects have been selected, worth €196.6 million (see EUROPE 12506/13). Companies from 24 member states are involved in the selected projects, which is “not a bad” result according to Mr Alexis, given that “90% of the defence industry is based in four or five member states”.
For 2020, the calls for proposals, which number 12 and are worth €163.5 million, are open until 1 December. Among other things, they cover cybernetics, ground and air combat capabilities, maritime surveillance and detection capabilities for nuclear, radiological, bacteriological and chemical (NRBC) weapons, as well as medical countermeasures. These proposals will be evaluated and the outcome is expected to be announced in June/July 2021 with the signing of grant agreements expected to take place in September/October 2021. If the agreements are not signed by 31 December 2021, “the budget is lost”, explained the director.
While 37% of the companies selected under projects for 2019 were SMEs, Mr Alexis felt that the European Commission should make an effort to work with them so that they can better involve them. In his opinion, it is too complex for these companies to get in touch with other SMEs or larger companies and to enter into a consortium. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)