Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-14-Speech-3-080"
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"en.20000614.4.3-080"2
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"Mr President, I also wish to congratulate Mrs Lalumière on producing a report which is a fine balance of the arguments and interests involved. It is a remarkable achievement. I also wish to congratulate the Council on being able to establish at the last summit the principle of the headline goals. It is important to realise the significance of these headline goals because for once, instead of spending years discussing institutions, the European Union has put results before means. That, as we are already seeing, will drive forward the agenda very rapidly.
If we are to succeed in our ambitions at a price we can afford, we have to ensure that we get better value for money out of defence and, in particular, defence industries. We need a strong, competitive European defence industry. Notwithstanding the takeovers and mergers in the private sector, there is still far too much fragmentation in this area. We still rely heavily on intergovernmental activity. The Western European Union Armaments Group, for example, moves very slowly on the basis of consensus. Even the six EU Member States which two years ago signed a letter of intent on cooperation have still not agreed a framework agreement to implement that letter of intent. We clearly need more urgency in this area and we need a single, coherent framework within which the defence industry can cooperate.
That is why I am disappointed to hear what the presidency said about the intention to continue with the work of the Western European Armaments Group. I believe the pillar structure of the EU provides us with the best opportunity for a framework within which industry can operate. Pillar II can provide the common positions on things like arms exports, and we could be working towards a European armaments agency which brings together OCCAR and the Western European Armaments Organisation.
The Commission has a crucial role in this. The last Commission drove forward the agenda on restructuring the defence industries: there were two communications. This Commission has been completely silent on this issue. It is as if it is running scared from confronting the implications of its role as the guardian of the Treaties. We have to ensure that the single market applies to defence industries as far as possible, and that Article 296 only applies in those areas specified in the Treaty.
I would urge Commissioner Patten to follow in the footsteps of Commissioners Bangemann and van den Broek to drive forward the Commission's responsibility in delivering an effective and competitive European armaments industry in order to back up the measures we are taking in the political field."@en1
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