Paris, 30 November – The European land and sea defence equipment sector should be strengthened and rationalised, according to a WEU Assembly recommendation adopted on Tuesday.
 
A report, submitted by Edward O’Hara (UK/Soc) on behalf of the Technological and Aerospace Committee, said that in contrast to the European aerospace sector, “the land defence sector is suffering from a split in its industrial fabric and a lack of major European programmes”; also that “there is an acute need for consolidation in the naval defence sector.”
 
The report, entitled “Cooperation on defence systems procurement in Europe – a reply to the annual report of the Council”, said that the European Defence Agency (EDA) created earlier this year “should be able to manage national and cooperative equipment programmes and off-the-shelf procurement”.
 
Summarising the conference on “Cooperation on defence systems procurement in Europe” organised by the WEU Assembly in Enschede, the Netherlands, on 16-17 September, the report said the EDA should apply the principle of non-duplication, set up cooperative programmes to remedy European armed forces’ shortfalls and hold a “productive dialogue” with the United States to ensure a proper balance in transatlantic relations. It noted that European defence companies were “increasingly having to contend with the problem of fewer orders being placed at the national level and with a lack of European defence policy guidelines”, with the exception of the extended Petersberg peacekeeping missions and rapid reaction capabilities.