Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-11-16-Speech-3-328"
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"en.20051116.21.3-328"2
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"Ladies and gentlemen, we are seeking to make history by dismantling the established practices of Member States as regards the armaments trade. The Green Paper on defence procurement and any future directive therefore require strong political backing, as they will need to penetrate the hermetically sealed environment of the European defence market. The aim is no less than to impose far-reaching restrictions on derogations from the general rules of economic competition – Article 296 of the Treaty enables Member States to use and abuse the derogation system – and a number of national monopolies have been profiting from this at the citizens’ expense. The defence market is practically sealed off behind purpose-built barriers and dominated by monopolies, and it is difficult to monitor it, since secrecy is maintained even where there is no security reason for doing so. The lack of transparency when it comes to public procurement, fragmented research programmes and inadequate standardisation lead to low quality and poor interoperability, and in turn to ineffective national defence systems. There is, therefore, ample justification for opening up the EUR 160 billion defence market, not least because most Member States are finding it hard to honour their obligations as regards NATO defence policy.
If the Commission’s proposal obtains the support of all 25 Member States, they should be expected to work together on innovative strategies, to cut costs and to create fresh opportunities for businesses, not only large corporations, but also small and medium-sized manufacturers and suppliers of logistics equipment. The fundamental condition for the opening up of the defence market, however, both for myself and for a number of Members of this House, is to ensure that the EU Code of Conduct on Exports of Military Equipment is rigorously complied with. My call for compliance with this Code was incorporated into the text of the report, with the aim of cracking down on the illicit export of arms from advanced democracies to developing countries. This is an essential prerequisite and I call on the Commission to ensure that monitoring is made as easy as possible. My view is based on the salutary experience of an armaments deal that took place in the Czech Republic 10 years ago. I am deeply dismayed that the Council has failed to be present today."@en1
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