Innsbruck, 07/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - At a European Defence Agency (EDA) steering board meeting on 7 March in Innsbruck, European Defence Ministers gave their support to the idea of setting up a European fund for promoting research in defence, but modalities for this initiative still need defining and Ministers are hoping to obtain more concrete results during their meeting on 15 May in Brussels. The European Council on 15-16 June could reach a decision on creating such a fund. This would be the first fund of this kind in the EU. Ministers also decided to launch a pilot project for evaluating possibilities of developing, in common, certain research activities. Two possible areas of cooperation were identified: strengthening the protection of armed forces on operations and developing strategic air transport. Ministers called on the Agency to look into the consequences of research spending on the European economy.
Addressing the press, Javier Solana, EU High Representative for CFSP, and who chairs the EDA steering board, expressed his delight with the “encouraging results” of the first discussions on improving investment, “together”, in weapons and defence research and technology. Mr Solana was very pleased that they were able to present an initial version of proposals, which should enable them to take joint action. He also pointed out that Member States were not obliged to take part in this exercise, which was, he explained, within the inter-governmental remit, “But we must spend more, spend more together and spend more effectively”, he was delighted to add. These positive results are therefore encouraging Mr Solana and the Agency to present a more precise reflection document, which will be examined by Ministers of Defence in May and by the European Council in June. Mr Solana explained that Member States would be able to decide themselves whether to contribute to the common fund on investment in research. The amount for this fund, which will be overseen by the EDA, had not yet been worked out but is expected to remain modest.
While not opposing this fund, the British Minister for Defence, John Reid, clearly indicated that his country did not intend to make a financial contribution to it and noted that the United Kingdom and France alone spent 70% of total spending in the EU on research and development in the defence sector. Neither is the United Kingdom interested in participating in research projects on protecting the armed forces, an area which is already very advanced. On the other hand, it is urging other countries to jointly develop strategic transport activities for rapid responses to natural disasters. Mr Solana recognised that due to the launch of this pilot project they would be able to see clearly to what point countries were interested and what budget was needed for developing these technologies. Mr Solana said that this pilot project had been generally well received by Member States even if some of them were more advanced than others.