MEPs push for a more ambitious European defence industry programme

MEPs push for a more ambitious European defence industry programme   Press Releases   ITRE   SEDE   30 minutes ago     Measures to speed up the integration of EU defence industries   Greater financial support to boost the supply of military capabilities   Ukraine support instrument   On Thursday, MEPs backed a draft law designed to strengthen Europe’s defence industry, ramp up defence product manufacturing and provide more support for Ukraine. The Committees on Industry, Research and Energy and Security and Defence have adopted their position on the proposed creation of a European defence industry programme (EDIP). More specifically, MEPs backed measures to boost the European defence technological and industrial base (EDTIB), to strengthen EU defence and further integrate the EU defence industry. These measures include a significant increase in member states’ financial contributions to the EDIP, more aggregation of orders for the development of defence products, and enhanced use of joint procurement. MEPs want the new programme to focus on improving the supply of weapons, ammunition and other crisis-relevant products, boosting manufacturing capacities or ensuring their ramp-up, reducing lead times for production and delivery, and increasing stockpiling. Other principles agreed by MEPs to strengthen Europe’s defence capacity include the following: Introducing a “buy European” principle by which the EDIP should only fund products where the cost...