Committee on Security and Defence Ordinary meeting

Name: Committee on Security and Defence Ordinary meeting
Uploaded: 2026-06-22T14:30:00+00:00
Duration: 4105 s

07:04 - 09:35

Mārtiņš Staķis

If you can, if you can fund a company and then you can reform procurement, but if the company cannot test, validate and receive feedback on its products, it will never reach the market. We have testing facilities in Europe, they are expensive, often hard to access, and the military personnel who should be supporting testing are overstretched between combat readiness training and a dozen other priorities. There is still very little EU funding dedicated to testing infrastructure and there is no systematic way for small companies to get access to the testing range in another country. The EU needs to make sure that if the next MFF there is a funding for testing facilities, including voucher systems that make access affordable. And the third conclusion is the fragmentation of defense market.

We have talked a lot about the single market in this committee, but when you have only 27 customers, it's even more critical for small companies. Certification, testing, security accreditation, procurement rules, and banking practices all differ by country. For a startup with 15 employees, navigating one national system is hard. Navigating 27 is impossible. If we want real improvement in speed, there is only one way to achieve this.

A company should be able to test something once and have those results be valid in all member states. NATO has recently announced innovation vouchers, which is a good first step, but the EU has to go much further to ensure that test results are genuinely certified across borders. Part of this report also is devoted to cooperation with Ukraine. We have started well by including Ukraine in our ASAP and EDIRPA programs and creating joint defense innovation initiatives like Brave1.EU. But that cooperation still has no translation into real military capabilities.

This partnership has to become even deeper, with EU and Ukraine companies working hand in hand, not just on paper, but in production.

From my side, we will be submitting substantial block of amendments to the draft text which will supplement it with ideas are proposing to fix these challenges. I welcome any comments on how to strengthen the report further. Thank you.

09:35 - 09:49

Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann

Thank you very much and I will now give the floor to the shadow rapporteurs or any other members who would like to take the floor. We start with EPP, I think Christophe Gomart in behalf of Zeljana.

09:49 - 11:25

Christophe Gomart

Exactly. I'll be on behalf of Zeljana Zovko. Thank you, Chair. I would like to thank the rapporteur for presenting this important draft report.

The report addresses a key challenge for European defense: how to transform innovative ideas and successful prototypes into deployable capabilities. While the EU has made significant progress in supporting defense innovation, many startups, SMEs and new defense actors still struggle to obtain first contracts, access testing facilities and scale up production. Innovation alone is not enough. Innovative companies need a first customer, access to operational testing and greater visibility regarding future procurement needs. Otherwise, we risk losing valuable technologies, industrial know-how and talent outside Europe.

I also welcome the report's focus on lessons learned from Ukraine. The war has shown the importance of rapid adaptation, operational feedback, and close cooperation between industry and military users. Finally, our objective should not be to support more prototypes, but to ensure that European innovation becomes real capability, strengthens the European defense technological and industrial base, and delivers tangible results for our armed forces. I look forward to working constructively with the rapporteur and colleagues from all political groups as this report develops. Thank you.

11:25 - 11:31

Thank you very much, Christophe. The next will be for Lucia Tobias Kremer for S&D.

11:31 - 13:48

Tobias Cremer

Yes, thank you very much. In the name of Luciana Luciatta, I also want to thank the rapporteur for the for the report. And the report highlights very clearly the critical challenge that Europe is facing with its defense ecosystem. We can no longer afford to think of defense as a collection of 27 separate national markets. The lessons emerging from Ukraine are clear.

Military effectiveness today depends on our ability to innovate rapidly, to scale new technologies, and to bring them into service without delay. Still, many innovative companies are still struggling to move from successful prototypes to operational capabilities. And the problem is often not access to research funding, but access to procurement contracts. And this is why the upcoming revision of the European defense procurement framework represents a strategic opportunity. Public investment must be matched by common European demand, because if innovative European companies can develop cutting-edge technology but cannot secure contracts with member states, we risk losing talent, technologies, and industrial capacities to outside Europe.

Therefore, a progressive approach to defense means investing together to achieve more security with greater efficiency. And especially at a time when all member states face fiscal constraints, European cooperation is not only a security imperative, it is also an economic necessity. The report rightly argues that Europe needs mechanisms that can move publicly funded innovation to actual deployment.

The revision of procurement directives should therefore first encourage innovation-friendly procurement, second facilitate the participation of SMEs and startups, third reduce administrative barriers across member states, and fourth create a clearer pathway from research and development to operational use. Building a genuine defense union requires more than increasing budgets, it requires creating a real common market of defense innovation where new actors can grow, compete, and deliver capabilities for European security. Shared investment, coordinated procurement, and a stronger European industrial base are essential if Europe is to remain both secure and technologically sovereign in an increasingly unstable world. Thank you.

13:48 - 13:56

Thank you very much. And now we are for ECR, Rainis, the floor is yours.

13:56 - 14:42

Speaker 5

Well, thank you, Chair. First of all, I'd like to also thank, of course, the rapporteur for all the work and also the secretariat.

I will not repeat basically everything what my colleague said before. I fully agree with that and I just want to point out that our goal is not only increase the production capacities of existing defense industry, but basically create a new defense industry in Europe, which or new type defense industry, which highly rely on innovations and small and medium businesses. And that's why this report is very important and I looking forward for productive work to succeed on that. Thank you.

14:42 - 15:19

Thank you very much. And for Renew, somebody for Renew? Okay.

Then we continue for the Left. And ESN. Okay. Now I give the floor to any other member who would like to speak for one minute each, if you are... Okay, I would now like to invite the Commission to make any comments.

Sorry. Thank you very much, Chair. It's here. Commission is very far today. Okay, the floor is yours.

15:19 - 17:45

Dinka Dinkova

Thank you very much for giving us the floor. And I would like to thank very much for this timely and extremely important report, which touches on very essential elements that define the future of European defense readiness. We cannot be defense-ready without being able to mobilize the whole innovation ecosystem, including the small and highly innovative disruptive companies that are capable of bringing innovation to the market.

So in that regard, we are very happy that the report, which is the draft report, which is presented today, touches on many of the points that the Commission addressed with the defense industry transformation roadmap. We have had the same, more or less the same reflections of what are the key constraints for the innovative defense companies in Europe. You are talking about access to finance, access to testing facilities. These are issues that the Commission very much recognizes the importance of it. And for that reason, we have also proposed a new instrument, ASAP, which would be a new regulation.

We would like to thank the Parliament for swiftly managing the discussion, and we are looking forward to the next phases of inter-institutional negotiations in trilogues. But basically, this is a new instrument which will, or at least the ambition is that it will address many of the points that are raised in this report. To help companies walk this last mile until the procurement. To connect companies to the end users in the armed forces.

To connect Member States' armed forces, to put them in the loop very early in the process so that with them we define the challenges, then they are able to participate in the testing and experimentation campaigns so that they see the real performance and the real value that these companies can bring. So, Agile, if proved successful, and we very much hope so, will be scaled up in the next MFF with the European Competitiveness Fund, and we very much look forward to the final version of this report, which we very much welcome. Thank you.

17:45 - 17:59

Thank you very much, Mrs. Dinova. Just for you to know, she's a Deputy Head of Unit, Defence Policy and Innovation. So, finally, I give the floor to the rapporteur if he has any final comments. I'm sure.

17:59 - 19:02

Mārtiņš Staķis

Thank you very much for your comments. Thank you. Thank you.

And I also want to say that, yes, I think here in Brussels we see that things are heading to the right direction. And this agile program is one example where speed and flexibility of innovation is finally a priority and where MODs can buy successful products directly. So this approach should be scaled substantially in the next MFF for sure.

So thank you Commission for this initiative. And I just want to inform that and I want to highlight that we also commissioned a study on this topic which will be finalized soon and we will be sharing with all the offices involved. And this study also confirms many of the conclusions in this report and also provides additional evidence particularly on testing and certification barriers. So thank you very much. I'm looking forward to all amendments and let us work quickly to bring this report to committee.

Thank you.

19:02 - 19:58

Thank you very much Martins and the shadows.

And now, colleagues, we are now coming to the vote on the SEDE opinion to the Commission's proposal on establishing the European Fund of Economic, Social and Territorial Cohesion, Agriculture and Rural, Fisheries and Maritime Prosperity and Security for the period 2028 till 2034. This will be an electronic vote, so please have your voting cards ready. I know. I just want to because there is a little bit noisy. Okay, before proceeding to the vote, I would like to briefly give the floor to the rapporteur Ana Catarina Mendes for one minute.

Ana Catarina, the floor is yours.

19:58 - 21:18

Ana Catarina Mendes

Thank you, chair. I will speak in Portuguese. Queria...

Muito obrigada, senhor presidente. Eu queria agradecer, em primeiro lugar, todo o trabalho que os relatores-sombra fizeram, que permitiu que tivéssemos um compromisso suficientemente abrangente sobre este tema. Sabemos que não estamos a falar de um instrumento financeiro para a defesa, mas que no âmbito do MFF faz sentido que a defesa ganhe uma nova centralidade.

E por isso os três objetivos principais dos nossos compromissos são no sentido, um, de preparar a Europa para uma melhor indústria de defesa e mais robusta. Segundo, que haja uma coordenação entre todos os instrumentos financeiros para que não estejamos sempre a inventar novos mecanismos financeiros. E por último, garantir um desenvolvimento da indústria europeia de defesa que seja, construa na Europa, compre na Europa e venda na Europa. No fundo, face às incertezas que existem no mundo, que este seja mais um pilar para podermos reforçar a nossa indústria e o mercado interno da defesa também. Muito obrigada, senhora presidente.

21:18 - 23:24

Thank you very much. So, colleagues, I can see we have clearly enough members to meet the quorum for a vote and clearly enough photographers to make a good photo when you vote. Before we proceed, we need to check if the voting system is working correctly. So please insert your voting card and we will now test the vote. The vote is open.

And the vote is closed. Right. Yeah. Okay, perfect.

So it's working, that are good news. So now we are coming for the proposal for regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the European Fund for economic, social, territorial cohesion, agriculture and rural, fisheries and maritime prosperity and security for the period 2028 till 2034. The compromise amendment number one, it's a vote by hand. Who is in favor? Who is against?

Abstention? It's adopted.

And now we come to the final vote. Final vote, it's a roll call vote. And so the vote is open. And the vote is closed. Yes.

So a big majority, congratulations. Colleagues, we have now the SEDE members. Sorry colleagues, the SEDE members have now to move to SPAAK 1A002. We will meet each other in a few minutes.