Paris, 16 June 2010 – The Assembly has urged the European Union to promote European defence equipment manufacturers on the transatlantic market, to strengthen Europe’s defence technological and industrial base and to instruct the European Defence Agency (EDA) to identify areas for further cooperation with the United States.

Presenting a report entitled “The transatlantic defence equipment market” on behalf of the Technological and Aerospace Committee, Axel FISCHER (Germany, EPP/CD Group) said that Europe must streamline and standardise its capabilities if it is to compete with the United States. “US defence meets the three tenets of the Olympic motto – faster, higher, stronger”, said Mr FISCHER who is both Chairman of the Committee and Rapporteur. But Europe can aspire “to only one or at most two of those criteria”.

The difference between the Americans and Europeans “is one of quality as well as scale, making it difficult for Europe to catch up”, he added. And US proposals to ease the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) regime would benefit US companies more than their rivals, he said. The transatlantic defence equipment market “is still characterised by mutual attraction and cooperation on the one hand and by suspicion and competition on the other,” the report noted. “The supplier-client relationship exists on both sides; it is neither mutual nor balanced”.

Europe had a choice between the less costly option of buying off-the-shelf from the United States, with a potential threat to operational autonomy, or turning to European companies, the report said. With 60 years of cooperation behind them, the United States remained Europe’s largest external supplier, yet, according to the report, the imbalance in resources was still significant. The United States continued to invest more in defence than Europe did and to allocate more of its defence budget to research and development. Europe had always had a “problem in defining common needs, despite its acute awareness of its major deficiencies – interoperability, projection and mobility,” Mr FISCHER said.

Speaking from the floor, Reijo KALLIO (Finland, Socialist Group) said the trend was towards more expensive equipment. While avoiding the temptation of national protectionism as a way out of the economic crisis, Europe had to focus on joint procurement and increased interoperability, he said. The EDA had a key role to play, and should be given a three-year budget framework and be made more flexible, he added.