• Re:Swedish Presidency Ambitions and ESDP

Vladimir Silhan, Defence Advisor:
A comment to the article from my side is that besides two areas within the capability developments, rightly identified in the article, namely civil-military capability development and maritime surveillance there was also Level Playing Field for Defence as another important focus of the Swedish presidency in the broader context of creation environment for European capability developments.
In this respect EDA Defence Ministers agreed on the following Political Declaration on a Level Playing Field for the European Defence Equipment Market on 17 November 2009:
1) Acknowledging that, within the context of the EDTIB Strategy approved in May 2007, the creation of a Level Playing Field (LPF) for Defence is an important factor in the development of an open and transparent European Defence Equipment Market in order to create a competitive European Defence Technological and Industrial Base, which in turn has a fundamental role underpinning ESDP military capabilities, and taking into account the specificities of the defence sector and the need to maintain and foster European defence industrial capacities;
2) Noting the ongoing work in the Agency and in the European Commission, to achieve a level playing field for defence in the long run - based on transparency and fair and open competition and towards creating the European framework necessary to enhance mutual confidence;
3) Referring to the ongoing work of the Agency on Security of Supply, with the aim to achieve sufficient acceptance of mutual dependencies as a key element for a fully effective European Defence Equipment Market; They declared the commitment to an open and transparent European Defence Equipment Market and determination to support the European Defence Agency’s work towards a Level Playing Field for Defence, and tasked the Agency to explore the issue in more detail, by:
a) Developing a common understanding of those issues which may hamper the establishment of a Level Playing Field; analysing each issue to understand the level of its adverse impact and consider with pMS which mitigating actions are achievable and in what timeframe;
b) Prioritising, in consultation with pMS and other important stakeholders, issues for further consideration and draw up a realistic roadmap to move forward; and report back to the Steering Board in Defence Ministers formation in Autumn 2010.
The EDTIB Strategy agreed by the Defence Minister’s at their EDA Steering Board meeting held on 14 May 2007 states, inter alia: a) “Fair competition requires not only a level playing field, but also the assurance that individual competitors are not improperly advantaged. This suggests that features such as government ownership of, or publicly-provided aids to, defence industries will call for particular transparency if mutual confidence is to be maintained…” b) “The concept of a truly European DTIB will not be realised in practice unless Member States can be confident that increased mutual dependence for supply of defence goods and services is matched by increased mutual assurance of that supply.”

By Vladimir Silhan on12/5/200921:32