A step forward to strenghten Europe’s defence

The EPP Group welcomes the upcoming vote on the adoption of the European Commission’s Defence Omnibus Simplification. 

"This agreement is an important step towards strengthening Europe’s defence readiness," says Henrik Dahl MEP, responsible on behalf of the EPP Group for the negotiations on the proposal on the acceleration of permit-granting for defence readiness projects in the Internal Market Committee. “With this regulation, we are cutting red tape, speeding up permit procedures, and giving Europe’s defence industry the ability to scale up production faster and more predictably," Dahl adds.  

"The omnibus agreement makes it much easier to transfer defence products, software and technology between Member States," underlines MEP Pekka Toveri, responsible for simplification of intra-EU transfers of defence-related products and the simplification of security and defence procurement. "With new General Transfer Licences, waiting times for companies are cut from months to a few days and longer framework agreements give industry greater certainty when investing and ramping up production," he says. "I’m disappointed that the Member States were not ready to go further. We are now in the fifth year of war in Europe and Europe needs to be able to produce, move and buy defence equipment faster.  We are expecting a broader overhaul of the Defence Procurement Directive in November, and I hope that the Member States will then be ready to show more ambition," Toveri insists. 

"Europe’s security will not be strengthened by more paperwork, but by turning our best technology and industrial know-how into real defence capabilities," nails MEP Aura Salla, who spearheaded work on defence readiness in the Industry, Research and Energy Committee. "This agreement helps Europe move faster, cut unnecessary bottlenecks and direct support towards the solutions that genuinely strengthen our security. At a time when Russia’s threat is real and immediate, every euro must deliver maximum impact. That means backing excellence, innovation and the companies capable of producing the drones, sensors, ammunition and other technologies Europe needs," concludes Salla.