MEPs from the European Parliament’s Committees on Foreign Affairs (AFET) and on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) adopted, on Tuesday 25 April, their position on the instrument to strengthen the European Defence Industry Reinforcement through common Procurement Act (EDIRPA) by adopting compromise amendments from the EPP, Renew Europe, S&D and ECR groups (87 votes in favour, 8 against and 25 abstentions).
Greens/EFA MEPs abstained while those from The Left voted against.
“EDIRPA is not about buying weapons, but to facilitate cooperation between states for common procurement”, recalled the rapporteur for ITRE, Zdzisław Krasnodębski (ECR, Polish).
“Procuring defence equipment together is a first but essential step, as it will support Member States in closing the gap towards their long-declared level of ambition in defence cooperation and will also improve interoperability of European armed forces as well as achieving better value for taxpayers’ money”, added the rapporteur for AFET, Michael Gahler (EPP, German).
While the European Commission has proposed that the instrument be endowed with €500 million, MEPs want the amount to be €1 billion.
In addition, MEPs introduced the possibility to allow Moldova and Ukraine to benefit from the instrument by offering EU Member States the possibility to procure additional quantities of the common market defence product for these countries.
The committees also propose a funding ‘bonus’ in certain cases. While normally the financial contribution from the EU budget would be limited to 15% of the total financial envelope of the instrument and 20% of the estimated value of the common market, in three cases it should be increased to 20% of the financial envelope and 25% of the value of the common market. The first is when two or more members of a consortium of Member States and Associated Countries share a common border or have their territorial waters or exclusive economic zones adjacent to Russia or to countries under Russian aggression. The second case is if Moldova or Ukraine is the recipient of additional quantities in the framework of the procurement. Finally, the third case concerns the fact that at least 15% of the estimated value of the joint contract is awarded to SMEs and/or mid-sized companies as contractors or subcontractors.
MEPs also voted to give rapporteurs a mandate for the interinstitutional negotiations (106 votes in favour, 8 against and 6 abstentions). This decision is expected to be confirmed at the 8-11 May plenary and negotiations are expected to start in May.
According to Mr Krasnodębski, the EU Council’s position, adopted on 1 December 2022 (see EUROPE 13075/24), is quite close to the one adopted in the committees. There should therefore not be any obstacles in principle to reaching an agreement. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)