8 Amendments of Ioannis A. TSOUKALAS related to 2011/2177(INI)
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Underlines that the European defence industry is characterised by varying national policies, which could further aggravate the adverse effects on the industry; stresses therefore that the competitiveness, differentiation, potential and resilience of the defence industry of the EU need to be increased to minimise the adverse effects;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. points out the importance of research and innovation in the security and defence sector and welcomes the efforts that are made towards this direction in the framework of the FP7, such as the calls for Security Research published on CORDIS,
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Notes, however, that currently a little over 1% of Europe's total defence expenditure was invested in R&T and only around 10 % of that R&T expenditure was spent through European collaborations, so the need to enhance the effectiveness of European efforts in this domain is particularly urgent;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2c. Notes that European Ministers of Defence agreed in November 2007 collective benchmarks to increase Defence R&T spending to 2% of all defence expenditure and to bring European collaborative Defence R&T spending to a level of 20%;
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 d (new)
Paragraph 2 d (new)
2d. Notes the necessity for innovation and technology transfer between the civil and the defence industry and calls for a new strategic vision for a European defence industrial policy based on collaboration, innovation, development of human skills and better interconnection with civil industry;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 e (new)
Paragraph 2 e (new)
2e. Notes the shift in recent years of traditional military operations towards peace operations, counter-terrorism, humanitarian assistance and support to civil authorities, as well as the increased need for civil protection applications (e.g. in cases of natural or manmade disasters) therefore calls for increased adaptation and diversification of the European defence sector; Notes that still the European defence industry does not produce firefighting aircrafts despite the significant demand by many Member States;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes that the absence of a common defence industrial policy has led to a deeper fragmentation 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 industrial policy should promote multidimensional cooperation for the benefit of the EU, taking into account the specificities of the Member States, 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 cooperation among Member States;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Welcomes the directives on procurement and transfers, which aim to increase competition and facilitate the circulation of defence-related products; encourages, based on pooling and sharing initiatives, greater consolidation of demand through joint R&T projects, which will coordinate the European and international security research efforts in the areas of civil, security and defence research, or through bundling demand for shared capabilities taking into account the concerns of the defence industry; notes that on the supply side, less competitive companies that cannot implement an export-led growth strategy should pursue portfolio diversification, although some degree of supply consolidation is unavoidable.