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Military - in brief (18)

01 May 2006

EU: Bulletin board for arms sales: Twenty-two EU nations have signed a voluntary code designed to open the 25-nation bloc's 30 billion euro arms industry to cross-border competition. Spain and Hungary have notified the EU that they will not take part in the "code of conduct" on defence purchases, that took effect on 1 July. Denmark had already an opt-out on the whole EU defence and security policy. For other EU-countries defence equipment contracts are now posted on an electronic bulletin board that is operated by the European Defence Agency. EU officials say that at the moment more than half of the annual spending on military equipment in Europe lies outside the EU free-market rules. The voluntary code will apply to defence contracts of over 1 million euros. Defence research contracts and highly strategic buys like nuclear, satellite or encryption technologies are exempted. Exemptions will also be allowed if ongoing operations (wars) dictate that nations need quick supply. Article 296 of the current EU treaty excludes war material from competition rules. Half of July's 584 million euros worth of defence tenders had been posted to the bulletin board. Remarkably, the bulk of this amount came from EU president Finland (532 million), followed by the Netherlands (18m), Germany (15.5) and Britain (14.5). France had posted three tenders but calculated their value as zero. "Arms sales to become more competitive in the EU", International Herald Tribune 22.5.06; "Agency reports 532m Euros in Defense Buys open to Pan-EU bidding", Brooks Tigner, Defense News 27.7.06