EDA Chief Executive Claude-France Arnould attended the Berlin Security Conference on 2 December 2014. She took the opportunity to share her views on European defence matters.
"Defence cooperation is a necessity, though not fully translated into action yet", Claude-France Arnould stressed. She also shared a few remarks based on her four-year experience as Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency. For instance, she pointed out the increasing discrepancy between top-level political guidance and working-level implementation, as well as the fact that the Agency is generally underused.
She also underlined the natural tendency to oppose cooperation and sovereignty, as well as the increasing role of the European Commission in defence matters. Meanwhile, Claude-France Arnould stressed the need to broaden the scope of stakeholders beyond defence ministries when it comes to defence cooperation. She reminded the audience that innovative funding solutions are required in order to harmonise procurement calendars to support cooperative programmes, thus underlining the work undertaken in EDA on the notion of pooled procurement. "Member States have a fully-equipped toolbox at their disposal with the European Defence Agency: now is the time to use it", she concluded.
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