Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-06-19-Speech-2-418"
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"en.20070619.46.2-418"2
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".
Mr President, four years ago the Commission announced its intention to develop a European security and defence policy. Since then, we have been striving to establish a more open and fair European defence market through a number of initiatives. The new procurement directive for defence equipment is a crucial element of this overall strategy and is one of the Commission’s strategic priorities for this year.
At present, the vast majority of defence equipment tenders are conducted outside Community rules. Member States rely upon the derogation from the Treaty under Article 296. In the Commission’s view, this derogation should be limited to the exceptional cases. We gave some guidance on the matter last December. Nevertheless, the derogation is still the rule more than the exception. Most defence procurement has therefore remained outside of the internal market principles. This means that all 27 Member States procure defence equipment in accordance with their own national regulations, often resulting in non-transparent and sometimes discriminatory practices.
We recognise that current public procurement rules are really suited to the particular needs of the defence procurement. But we believe we can achieve important economic gains if we open up national defence markets, which represent 0.8% of the European Union’s GDP and one quarter of public procurement at state level.
Member States and industry widely acknowledge these advantages. Fair and transparent conditions would allow companies, especially SMEs, to tender more easily in other Member States and thus widen their access to business opportunities in a much larger home market. Longer production runs would allow economies of scale. This in turn would help to reduce costs and lead to lower prices. The final beneficiary of that would be the taxpayer.
Our proposal would adapt certain Community procurement rules to the specific nature of defence and give awarding authorities greater flexibility for sensitive procurement procedures. This will also make it easier for Member States to use the derogation under Article 296 of the Treaty only in exceptional cases. As is the case under the other procurement directives, Member States will continue exchanging views on defence procurement issues via the Advisory Committee on Public Procurement, once the directive has been implemented.
I wish to emphasise that the new directive will implement the code of conduct of the European Defence Agency. The code of conduct applies only to contracts which are exempted from the Community rules on the basis of Article 296, while the future directive will apply to contracts which are not exempted from Community rules. Together the code of conduct and the new directive will enhance transparency and fair competition on defence partners in the European Union.
I am pleased to indicate that work on the proposal for a defence directive is well advanced. My services are currently finalising the impact assessment which will tell us more about the expected impact of the initiative on the market, including social issues. In parallel we are working closely with Member States via the Advisory Committee on Public Procurement and via the European Defence Agency. Industry is also involved in the impact assessment.
The Commission is planning to adopt a proposal in the autumn. At this stage we aim to present it as part of a package, together with a proposal for a regulation on intra-Community transfers of military equipment and a communication on defence industries.
Since we started the reference in the field of defence procurement, Parliament has always been one of our strongest supporters. This is clearly reflected in Parliament’s resolution of 2005. I wish to thank you for this and hope that our fruitful cooperation will continue in the future."@en1
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