30 Amendments of Reinhard BÜTIKOFER related to 2011/2177(INI)
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes with grave concern the unprecedented cuts in the defence budgets of the majority of EU Member States in the wake of the financial crisis and the potential negative impact of these measures on their military capabilities, should the Member States fail to make up for these losses through increased European cooperation and coordination; underlines that defence constitutes a public good that affects the security of all European citizens and that all Member States need to contribute in a spirit of burden-sharing and cost- effectiveness;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes that the absence of a common defence industrial policy has led to a deeper fragmentation and duplication of the defence market in terms of demand, regulations, standards and supply; recognises that a common defence industrial policy makes sense economically, but also threatens to undermine the sovereignty of the individual state; believes therefore that European defence industrialbelieves that the European industrial defence policy should promote multidimensional cooperation for the benefit of the EU,; outlining the main industrial objectives, mapping the comparative advantages and strategic industrial sectors and; emphasising the role of the EDA and NATO bodies in supporting the cooperation among Mmember Sstates;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Urges all EU Member States to assume fully their part of the responsibility for peace and security in Europe, with particular attention to non-traditional security issues and with regard to its neighbourhood and the wider world; reminds them of their repeated commitments, including in the Treaty and European Council conclusions, to improve their military capabilities by increasing cooperation and coordination;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Rejects the idea that funding under the current FP7 and the future EU Research and Innovation Programmes should be expanded to finance development of military equipment, technology and services; strongly believes that civilian security and defence research should be clearly separated and that security research under the current and future EU Framework Programmes should exclusively be aimed at civilian applications;
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Recalls that, as specified in the FP7 legal basis, research activities supported by the FP7 should respect fundamental ethical principles, including those reflected in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union; calls on the European Commission to improve the way it enforces ethical principles in the evaluation of eligibility criteria for participation in the FP7 research programmes in the area of "Security"; also calls on the Commission to make an ethic and societal impact assessment as standard element of each project to be financed under FP7 and future research programs;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Deplores the way in which most of these funds are spent, based on national defence planning decisions taken in almost total isolation, resulting not only in persistent capability gaps, but also in wasteful overcapacities and duplications, as well as fragmented industry and markets; also reminds that the common practices of 'juste retour' and 'offsets' are major sources of ineffective and inefficient defence planning and procurement;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the Member States to accept that increased cooperation is the only way forward and that, in particular through (A) better coordination of defence planning, which includes harmonisation of military requirements, (B) pooling and sharing of certain functions and assets, (C) enhanced intergovernmental cooperation in research and technological development, (D) facilitating industrial collaboration and consolidation, and (E) optimisation of procurement and removing market barriers, the Member States can develop capabilities in a more cost- efficient way, and this without adverse effects for their sovereignty;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Stresses that the EU has at its disposal institutional tools and mechanisms that can assist the Member States in achieving this, as set out below, including through the identification of areas where more funding could be provided at European level (F);
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Reiterates its call on the Member States to conduct systematic security and defence reviews according to common criteria and a common timetable; suggests that this could be developed into a regular exercise which is linked to national budgetary procedures, a sort of ‘European semester’ of security and defence reviews;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Stresses that the point of such coordinated reviews would be to end the culture of isolation in national defence planning and to establish a platform for structured discussion, allowing the Member States to consider the bigger picture, the European perspective, before they take key strategic decisions on their defence capabilities;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls again for an EU White Paper on security and defence to define the EU's security and defence objectives, interests and needs more clearly in relation to the means and resources available, while also taking into account non-traditional aspects of security; emphasises that it should be drafted and regularly updated on the basis of the national reviews, while at the same time providing a reference for them, linking national defence planning with a common security outlook and threat assessment;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Is firmly convinced that pooling and sharing of capabilities is not an option any more, but a necessity; supports the Member States in their efforts to identify the most promising projects, at the latest by the end of 2011 as part of the process initiated at the September 2010 ministerial meeting in Ghent and in line with the November 2010 German-Swedish initiative; recalls the mandate given to the EDA in May 2011 for submitting proposals in the autumn and calls on the EDA and the Member States to adopt a road map for very concrete projects of pooling and sharing before the end of 2011;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Invites the Member States to make creative use of the different pooling and sharing models that can be identified, such as (1) pooling through joint ownership, (2) pooling of nationally owned assets, (3) pooling of procurement, or (4) role- and task-sharing, and of combinations thereof as appropriate, and calls for quick progress especially in the areas mentioned above; calls on the EDA and Member States to develop a mechanism for parliamentary control of national capabilities in pooling and sharing arrangements; reminds that under no circumstances pooling and sharing arrangements should lead to bypassing constitutionally guaranteed rights of some national parliaments when it comes to the process of authorising the deployment of military personnel and equipment;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. First, on ‘joint ownership’, calls on the Member States to explore the possibilities for certain equipment to be jointly acquired by consortia of participating countries or by the EU itself, taking inspiration from initiatives such as the Strategic Airlift Capability implemented under NATO, the NATO AWACS programme or the EU's Galileo; stresses the potential of joint ownership for the most expensive equipment, such as for space capabilities, UAVs or strategic transport aircraft;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Recognises bilateral and regional initiatives such as the 2010 UK-French defence agreements and the Nordic Defence Cooperation as important efforts to rationalise the use of resources and fill short-term capability gaps; encourages further progress in promising cooperation projects in other regions, such as among the Visegrád Group countries; takes the view, however, that at a certain point these bilateral or regional arrangements need to be integrated into the wider European perspective and that significant structural gaps remain which need to be addressed in a coordinated fashion at EU level, and that the EDA should be given a role in ensuring overall coherence; encourages further reflection on how the Treaty provisions on the Permanent Structured Cooperation could be used to provide an overall coordination framework, building also on the ‘European semester’ exercise as proposed under (A);
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Considers that an EU Operational Headquarters, for which it has repeatedly called, would not only substantially enhance the EU's capacity to support international peace and security, but would in the long run also generate savings for the national budgets in the logic of pooling and sharing; calls on the Vice-President / High Representative to continue work based on the ‘Weimar initiative’ and to investigate legal options for the establishment of permanent EU military planning and conduct capability of this kind; calls on the VP/HR to stick to the model of an autonomous military operational planning and conduct capability (OHQ) comprising two separate (civilian and military) chains of command as presented to EU Foreign Ministers on 18 July 2011;
Amendment 138 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Recalls the ever growing number of technologies with dual-use applications, and therefore the importance of increasing complementarities and synergies between European defence and civilian security research programmes; encourages the EDA and the Commission to pursue their coordination within the European Framework Cooperation, in order to maximise synergies with the ‘Security’ theme of the Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development, in particular in areas such as CBRN protection, counter improvised explosive devices, unmanned aerial systems, maritime surveillance, information management and processing, and cyber defencegrowing need and importance of not blurring the line between civilian security research and military R&D;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Stresses that security research needs to be maintained as an independent theme in the next Framework Programme and calls for a substantial increase in the funds allocated to it; calls for an expansion of the scope of the ‘Security’ theme to support the full range of dual-use technologies; maintains that, while taking due account of any relevant defence- related requirements in the programmes and projects, the theme should keep its civilian focus;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
Paragraph 33
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
Paragraph 37
37. Recognises that the likely consequence of restructuring will be the abandonment of some non-viable national industrial capacities, which may lead to employment concerns; calls for a better use of EU funding, such as the European Social Fund and European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, to support anticipation and adaptation to change;
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 52
Paragraph 52
52. Stresses that the success of the directive, in particular as regards licences for transfers between companies, largely depends on the confidence that the Member States have in each other's export controls; urges the Member States to comply strictly with the obligations set out in Council Common Position 2008/944/CFSP defining common rules governing control of exports of military technology and equipment, and to make sure they rigorously assess all licence applications against all the eight criteria as required; calls on the Vice-President/High Representative to evaluate Member States' compliance, in the context of the review of the Common Position, in light of both trade and foreign policy considerations including the respect of human rights and democratic principles in importing countries;
Amendment 192 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 55
Paragraph 55
Amendment 195 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 56
Paragraph 56
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 57
Paragraph 57
57. Takes the view that EU funds should be used to foster cooperation in education and training; calls for the necessary arrangements to be made to allow the payment of stipends to cadets participating in the ‘military Erasmus’ programme from the EU budget, in order to give them equal treatment with students at civilian higher education institutions;
Amendment 201 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 58
Paragraph 58
Amendment 205 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 59
Paragraph 59
59. Encourages further development of the role of the European Security and Defence College as a forum for cooperation between national defence academies and civilian security training institutions, in order also to identify and develop cost-saving pooling and sharing projects between them; calls on the Member States to transform it into a real academic institution, and, given its strong civilian-military focus, suggests it be funded by the EU under the next Multiannual Financial Framework;