DEFENCE: CALLS HEARD TO BOOST EU RESEARCH SPENDING.

Mr Solana, who is also the Head of the European Defence Agency (EDA), argued that current European investment in research and development was insufficient, admitting at the same time the difficulty of living in a world of tight national finances. The United States spends five times as much as the EU on defence research and development. The EDA's budget for 2005 was about euro 20 million, including a relatively meagre euro 3 million to buy in research and advice.

EU leaders asked Mr Solana at their informal meeting at Hampton Court in October 2005 to come up with proposals by June this year for strengthening European defence R&T. The short answer, he said, was to "spend more, spend better and spend more together". He suggested that spending more together could be achieved through a substantial R&T budget for the EDA or through a joint "European Defence R&T Fund", managed within the Agency but controlled directly by its contributors.

"I think the principle of a joint fund matters more than the mechanism. And what matters even more is that we address the issue with urgency", Mr Solana continued. "We can debate just how much of that technology we should generate in Europe, for reasons of autonomy, and how far we can rely on the global market. But we clearly need much of it under our own hands", he added.

Industry view.

Thomas Enders, the President of the Aerospace and Defence Industries Association of Europe and Chief Executive Officer of EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company), said the "much-need paradigm shift" for European defence R&T should establish policy foundations, create instruments for implementation and set targets.

He said that the EDA must be given the means to assume its role in defence R&T. He proposed as a first step to create a common EDA research budget of euro 50 million not later than 2007. "If they [EU member states] do not transfer the adequate management capabilities...