Addressing an audience of EU officials at the European Policy Centre, EDA Chief Executive Mr. Witney said: “I do find it disturbing that European defence technology flows freely to the United States, while US technology does not go the other way. This weighs heavily in our thinking about what should figure in a healthy defence industrial base for Europe in the future.”
He added that the agency “may quite soon start to gather data” on defence trade between the EU and the United States in order to gain a better estimate of what needs to be done.
Mr. Witney’s move comes as no surprise, two weeks after Javier Solana, the EU’s high representative for the foreign policy, has called on member states to “consider how Europe can ensure that a strong defence sector can equip its militaries with the necessary capabilities in the decades to come”.
