Brussels, 11/05/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Defence Agency's Steering Board, made up of European Union defence ministers, is to meet in Brussels on Monday morning essentially to discuss the development of a European defence equipment market and the European defence technological and industrial base.
EDA Director Nick Witney will present the first cross-border contract due to the Electronic Bulletin Board for Defence Procurement set in place by the agency to ensure greater transparency for calls for tenders issued by member states in the defence equipment sector. He will also expound on the second bulletin board recently created with the help of the defence industry to open up the subcontracting market. Nearly 100 contract possibilities are already available on this second bulletin. It is to be noted that Hungary is expected to join the signatories of the code of conduct on the opening up of defence procurement markets, which is at the basis of this process.
After this reminder, ministers will be invited to approve a strategy document about six and a half pages long recognising that no European state is able to ensure the viability of a defence technological and industrial base within the limits of its national market. The development of a European defence technological and industrial abase is all the more essential as the rules applied to the United States do not allow the functioning of such a base to be guaranteed on a transatlantic scale. Ministers should undertake to promote greater cooperation at European level, by reducing duplication and by developing structures for research and more specialised, inter-dependent and competitive industries. This strategy is based on a roadmap and a follow-up process for commitments taken and medium term objectives (about six years).
The 19 member states in the EDA, plus Norway, which endorsed the research programme on force protection, are expected to approve the rules of procedure for this three-year €65 million fund programme on Monday. This will allow the agency to launch, on Tuesday 15 May, a first call for proposals concerning: (1) certain aspects of CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) protection, and (2) the detection of snipers. The meeting will finally be marked by the launching of a new initiative involving the EDA and the European Commission with a view to developing ways to allow the use of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) amid air traffic, by 2012. (oj)