EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq held talks today (3 October) in Bucharest with Romanian Minister of Defence Mihnea Ioan Motoc. Romania’s participation in EDA projects, the Security & Defence Implementation Plan of the EU Global Strategy and the European Commission’s upcoming European Defence Action Plan were among the main topics on the agenda.
During the meeting, Mr Domecq welcomed Romania’s involvement in EDA projects and activities, for example: EU Satcom Market, the Joint Deployable Exploitation and Analysis Laboratory (JDEAL) project and the European Air Transport Fleet (EATF) programme. Romania was also the first contributing Member States to join the EDA’s ‘Sharing of Spare Parts’ project which allows it today to share military spare parts with eight other Member States who have also joined. The EDA is currently also providing technical assistance to three Romanian dual-use research project proposals as candidates for co-funding by the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF).
The upcoming Preparatory Action for CSDP-related research, to be launched in 2017, as well as the planned future European Defence Research Programme will open many interesting R&T opportunities, also for Romania, it was stressed at the meeting.
Mr Domecq commended Minister Motoc for Romania’s overall support to EDA and encouraged further engagement in the Agency’s work in the future.
“In the light of Romania's 10 year development plan in which it committed to devote 2% of GDP for defence expenditure, EDA is ready to provide all the necessary support as effectively and efficiently as possible, making use of opportunities for cooperation and the EU tools available in support of defence”, Mr Domecq stated.
Tailored approach for CEE countries
Mr Domecq recalled that EDA takes into account the ‘diversity’ of the European Defence Industrial and Technological Base and that it supports the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in the same way as it does the V4 or LoI countries.
Based on a specific CEE study which was commissioned by the EDA in 2015, the Agency is currently exploring a number of recommendations for providing more tailored expertise and support to CEE MoDs and industry, especially on defence industry policy and collaborative programmes.
As part of this effort, one idea is to try to identify a pilot collaborative programme which could be undertaken by interested CEE countries, enhancing interoperability among them. CEE countries are currently being consulted on these ideas. Mr Domecq encouraged Romania to participate and to take the lead in some areas.
Copyright picture: Romanian MoD
More information: