Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-11-16-Speech-3-307"
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"en.20051116.21.3-307"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, like Mr Wiersma, I would have liked this debate to have been held at a rather more civilised hour, since it is one that I – as a member of both the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection and also the Committee on Foreign Affairs – regard as particularly important. We are all, of course, aware of the fact that the Member States currently evade the rules of the internal market where armaments are concerned by claiming, under Article 296 of the European Communities Treaty, an essential national interest in the procurement of new weapons systems, while not limiting this to real weapons systems, but practising it in the procurement of all types of military equipment.
Since it appears, on closer examination, that only some 4% are covered by Article 296, it is necessary to find a way of bringing about greater transparency in the award of the remaining 96% of public tenders. The Commission has earned our gratitude by taking the initiative, and the report’s rapporteur, Mr Wuermeling, has argued in favour of the drafting of a communication interpreting Article 296 and of a directive on public contracts in areas with relevance to security. Speaking on behalf of my group, I recommend endorsement of the report, although we do not want to exclude the option of a code of conduct as an additional instrument for creating greater transparency.
The advantages of a unified system of awarding contracts under the common European defence policy are obvious. Europe currently spends some EUR 160 billion on defence, and we must ensure greater efficiency in this; we owe it to the taxpayers to do so. Vendors can achieve economies of scale if the quantity demanded is large enough, and so a considerable amount of tax revenue can be saved. In cost-intensive research, too, a joint approach will become more and more important in the future.
It is also of the utmost importance that we should strive for uniform technical standards, thereby enabling troops from different states to carry out operations together, and far from the least important consideration is that shared defence structures help intensify political integration and make for greater solidarity in the European Union.
I therefore recommend that the House endorse the Green Paper, and also that all three proposed instruments for improving transparency be employed. The Commission proposal goes in the right direction for achieving Europe’s strategic repositioning in security and defence policy, which is made necessary by the prospect of our external policy tasks being added to rather than being reduced in number. We live in a new security environment, with new threats, terrorism, unstable states, conflicts over the sharing out of natural resources, religious and political fanaticism. No EU Member State can face these challenges alone; ‘Europeanisation’ must be the watchword. Only a European Union with a single foreign policy, one that makes full use of its own capacities, sings from a single hymn sheet and has made structural fragmentation a thing of the past, will succeed in doing that. The fact is that the cost of operations will rise, especially if the armaments market in the EU of 25 Member States continues to be fragmented. What is needed to counteract that is better, more standardised policies, and they will also improve the interoperability of European troops, for that is an area in which there are still glaring differences. We must aim to enable our troops to operate together.
According to Eurobarometer, two thirds of the European public are in favour of closer cooperation within the EU in security matters. Our security depends on there being a functioning armaments market, and it is for that reason that we welcome the Commission’s initiative and the rapporteur’s report. I might also add that I believe that we should be having this debate in Brussels rather than in Strasbourg."@en1
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