Draft report on European Competitiveness Fund puts flesh on Commission plans with proposal for three new defence R&D instruments
A demonstration of drone technology from Latvian company Origin Robotics. Photo credits: Gints Ivuskans / European Union
A draft European Parliament report on the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) has laid out a blueprint for potential defence R&D funding instruments from 2028, fleshing out the original proposal from the European Commission.
In their draft report, published last week, MEPs Christian Ehler of the European People’s Party and Dan Nica of the Socialists and Democrats propose allocating €13 billion to defence research and innovation across three new instruments covering different types of projects and funding.
Both the budget and the instruments are “a step in the right direction,” according to Fredrik Erixon, founding director of the European Centre for International Political Economy. “Results will have to speak for…
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