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EU battles to boost arms competition
10/13/2005
BRUSSELS, Oct 12 (AFP): European Union defence ministers gather on an airforce base in southern England Thursday to examine a new plan to inject real competition into Europe's lucrative but sometimes opaque arms industry.
The ministers, meeting for informal talks at the Royal Air Force (RAF)'s Lyneham base west of London, will also assess progress made by the EU's mission in Bosnia.
The talks come amid renewed calls to boost defence spending, notably in research and development and in key shortfall areas such as mid-air refuelling planes, as the EU's theatre of operations spreads in the Balkans to Africa.
"We need all member states to make the right defence spending decisions to address the critical shortfalls that we have identified together," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said yesterday.
Almost a year in the making, the new code of conduct involves a voluntary, non-binding set of principles drawn up by the European Defence Agency (EDA) which are aimed at further opening EU borders for the arms industry.
Concretely, defence contracts worth more than one million euros would be advertised on a single electronic portal where companies around the bloc could see what contracts are available and then tender for them.
At the moment, member states quietly lump their defence deals under a piece of EU legislation-Article 296 -- which is meant to exempt them from normal market rules only in cases where their security interests are under threat.
But the European Commission, the EU's competition watchdog, has said it plans to crack down on abuses of the clause and has forced the industry's hand.
"The beauty of the voluntary approach is that it gives people the confidence to get in there and start doing it," said a senior EU official, on condition that he not be named.
If the code is to their liking, the defence ministers could take formally adopt it when they meet officially late next month.
Lyneham airbase is temporary home to the RAF's air tanker fleet, which is expected to put on a display during the meeting and like much of the EU's defence structure is in vital need of investment.
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