Tag: defence equipment

Cash-strapped European Union countries, trying to get the most value out of shrinking defence budgets, will soon be able to sell or swap surplus tanks or fighter jets on a new eBay-style electronic marketplace.

MEPs yesterday (14 January) approved new EU rules to open up national defence procurement to all European suppliers, raising hopes that more transparency and competition will be introduced to this sensitive market. But industry fears the move will damage R&D investment. 

The Commission has presented its new defence package, saying it would bring the EU closer to its long-term goal of setting up a 'genuine European defence market' for military equipment, in a move applauded by politicians and the defence industry. 

With this policy brief, Brian Hindley of the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) expresses his doubts on the economic justification of EU anti-dumping actions.

Should the EU start pooling its scarce funding for defence research? EU Defence Ministers will debate the issue at an informal council in Austria. 

The challenges for European collective security and the potential role of research and technology in protecting against terrorist attacks was discussed by EU policy makers and industrialists at a New Defence Agenda conference on 3 February 2005.  

The European Defence Agency has been further consolidated following its first annual work programme, with agreement also reached on the creation of EU 'battle groups'.

The Commission might appeal to the World Trade Organisation if the US passes legislation that is said to require the Pentagon to purchase essential defence equipment exclusively from US contractors.