The Commission is opening calls for proposals to finance up to €160 million in joint defence industrial projects in 2020, and announcing seven new defence research projects selected for more than €23 million of funding under the 2019 budget.
Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market, said: “In this difficult period on many fronts, we are mobilising all EU programmes to support our companies, big or small. We are also preparing for the future. With the joint development of defence technologies, we are making Europe more resilient and strengthening our industrial base.”
The projects are financed respectively under the European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP), worth €500 million for 2019-2020, and the Preparatory Action on Defence Research (PADR), which has a budget of €90 million for 2018-2020. They are the precursor programmes of the fully-fledged European Defence Fund, which will foster an innovative and competitive defence industrial base and contribute to the EU’s strategic autonomy.
After a few years as a contract serviceman, I graduated with a degree in business law, and worked in defence industry related groups. This has given me the opportunity to work closely on a number of export markets related topics. As a result, I feel a certain legitimacy to write on these subjects.
