MEPs have urged the EU Commission to create a single market for\u00a0defence\u00a0as part of the bloc\u2019s attempts to\u00a0increase integration of a multi-billion euro industry that is at the heart of Europe\u2019s plans to better defend itself.<\/p>\n
At the European Parliament\u2019s plenary session in Strasbourg <\/a>on Wednesday (11 March),\u00a0lawmakers called for the bloc\u2019s\u00a0defence\u00a0procurement\u00a0law to be re-written, and the creation of\u00a0dedicated joint fund for\u00a0innovative\u00a0defence\u00a0ideas to allow them to grow to scale, and to avoid them relying on foreign investors.\u00a0<\/p>\n They also urged the EU executive to propose a law allowing mutual recognition of certification for defence equipment.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to create a European ecosystem for\u00a0defence,\u201d said\u00a0Tobias\u00a0Cremer,\u00a0a German Socialists & Democrats MEP,\u00a0pointing to data in Mario Draghi\u2019s report on the EU\u2019s competitiveness<\/a> which suggests that EU states currently pay 30 percent above the market value for\u00a0defence\u00a0kit sourced outside the EU.\u00a0<\/p>\n The alternative, said Cremer, was that \u201cwe can continue to pay more for less and keep\u00a0defence out of the single market.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPeople understand that we need to spend more on\u00a0defence,\u201d he said, adding that it was \u201cin European\u00a0governments\u00a0interest to have a single market on\u00a0defence.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine, now into its fourth year, and the wars in the Middle East and belligerence of the US Trump administration, and its ambivalence towards Nato, have forced the EU and national governments to prioritise defence and security.\u00a0<\/p>\n EU defence\u00a0commissioner Andrius\u00a0Kubilius has promised to draw up a blueprint on the arms industry later this year\u00a0and\u00a0Ursula von der Leyen\u2019s commission\u00a0has already set up\u00a0set up the Security Action for Europe (SAFE)\u00a0programme<\/a>, which will offer up to \u20ac150bn in long maturity loans to EU countries to boost their\u00a0defence\u00a0spending up to two percent of GDP.\u00a0<\/p>\n Canada \u2018most European country not in EU\u2019<\/p>\n The project also features a\u00a0defence\u00a0procurement scheme worth up to \u20ac800bn, which is designed to encourage EU countries, and outside countries such as Canada<\/a> and, potentially, the UK<\/a>, to work\u00a0on jointly producing and purchasing equipment.\u00a0<\/p>\n But MEPs argue that there are other structural weaknesses to the European\u00a0defence\u00a0market and that the EU should favour a \u2018Buy European<\/a>\u2018 approach to defence procurement.<\/p>\n For example, Cremer told\u00a0reporters,\u00a0Nato cannot currently share technical standards on equipment with the EU because it does not have a cooperation agreement\u00a0with the bloc.\u00a0<\/p>\n The commission has also negotiated a series of cooperation\u00a0agreements\u00a0on\u00a0defence\u00a0with nine countries, including Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n