28/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - In a press release dated 28 July, the chairman of the European Parliament's sub-committee on defence, German Christian Democrat Karl von Wogau, speaks of the need to build a true European defence market in order to strengthen the effectiveness of Member States' defence spending and consolidate the industrial and technological base of Europe in this sector. The MEP recalls that the EU Member States annually spend EUR 160 billion on defence but that such spending causes considerable duplication and helps to keep the market fragmented. Karl von Wogau welcomes the rapid establishment of the European Defence Agency and stresses the importance of good cooperation between this intergovernmental body and the Commission, especially in the research sector. He welcomes the decision to set in place a code of conduct intended to promote the opening of public defence procurement but is also in favour, as suggested by the European Commission in its recent Green Paper, of preparing an interpretative communication on the exceptions to European rules on public defence procurement set out under Article 296.