The ambassadors of the EU Member States to the EU (Coreper) approved, on Wednesday 3 June, the EU Council mandate to open negotiations with the European Parliament on the proposal to create the programme for agile and rapid defence innovation (AGILE), endowed with €115 million (see EUROPE 13836/4).
AGILE is intended to provide rapid, tailored and targeted financial support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and will focus on supporting the development and testing of emerging and disruptive defence products, including the adaptation of civilian technologies for defence applications.
In its mandate, the EU Council sets the grant award deadline at four months. The products and technologies concerned should reach the defence forces within one to three years.
The EU Council is also adding actions that cannot be financed by the programme, citing those relating to lethal autonomous systems operating outside a responsible human command-and-control chain or which cannot be used in accordance with international humanitarian law, or actions relating to cluster munitions.
In order to guarantee ownership of, and support for, the programme, the EU Council has created more opportunities for Member States to be involved in its implementation (comitology), particularly as regards the allocation of funds or the work programme.
The European Parliament must still approve its negotiating position. Interinstitutional negotiations can then begin. According to a draft of the June summit conclusions, the European Council would like an agreement between the institutions by the end of the year (see EUROPE 13879/15), so that the programme can be operational in 2027.
See the mandate: https://aeur.eu/f/m5q (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)