After months of discussions, the ambassadors of the EU Member States are expected to agree on Monday 23 June on the Council of the EU’s position on the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP).
As is the case for the SAFE instrument, components originating from the EU or associated countries should account for at least 65% of funded projects.
The Member States finally agreed to exclude munitions and missiles from the design authority criteria, which means that non-EU producers of missiles and munitions or associated countries will be able to circumvent the criteria if they agree to share their technologies with the Europeans. “The programme will not be able to finance Patriots or American Stinger short-range surface-to-air missile launchers”, a source told Agence Europe.
Although ten Member States have complained that the compromise is too restrictive, they are not expected to oppose the agreement reached. Initially, the Polish Presidency of the EU Council proposed more exclusions.
While the Commission proposed an initial budget for EDIP of €1.5 billion, the Member States are proposing to add unused funds from the ‘Recovery and Resilience Facility’, Agence Europe has learned.
The European Parliament adopted its position on 24 April (see EUROPE 13627/11). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)