Agence France-Presse,
LYNEHAM, England: European Union defence ministers have agreed on a plan to open Europe's arms industry up to internal competition, which is likely to come into effect next year, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said.
'We… are in a good position to take a decision at our meeting next month on Nov 21 on a code of conduct,' he told reporters at Lyneham airbase in southwest England. 'It is a very important decision.'
The plan involves a voluntary system drawn up by the European Defence Agency (EDA) which would see defence contracts worth more than 1 mln eur advertised on a single electronic portal so companies could tender for them.
'It would produce a much-needed increase in cross-border competition which will in turn provide better value for the European taxpayer and… the European defence industry,' Solana said.
At the moment, member states quietly lump about half their defence deals under a piece of European Union legislation — Article 296 — which is meant to exempt them from normal market rules only when their security interests are under threat. The European Commission plans to crack down on abuses of the article and has forced the industry's hand.
EDA head Nick Whitney said the code of conduct will take about six months to put into place and that countries could sign up to it when they are ready.
'We envisage that perhaps there would be a six-month implementation period leading up to the thing actually going on line in the middle of next year,' he said, on the sidelines of an informal meeting of EU defence ministers.
'During that period, a number of countries will probably be reflecting at to whether they can move that fast to join the code when it begins,' he said.
He would not say which countries are ready to take part, saying only that it is a great majority, although Solana confirmed that the UK and France would be involved.
