EDA organised a one-day “jumbo” workshop on 28 February which for the first time gathered together Member States and industry representatives from the 4 EDA networks on Defence Market and Industry issues, notably the Defence Acquisition Expert Network, the Defence Industry Expert Network and SMEs Point of Contact, as well as the Defence Supply Chain Network, to discuss proposals aimed at improving the transparency of the European Defence Equipment Market (EDEM), the competitiveness of European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB) and promoting cooperation in defence procurement.
The workshop, held at the EDA in Brussels, brought together more than 80 experts from Member States and industry; a total of 25 Member States were represented at the event. Discussions focused on three central themes: cooperative defence procurement, cross-border contracting and supply chains and administrative burdens in defence procurement in view of collecting expert’s recommendations on potential concrete future actions. To facilitate the discussions, participants were provided with related ‘food for thought’ papers ahead of the workshop.
Many of the recommendations centred around the need of information sharing and the enhancement of trust among suppliers across national borders. The proposals drawn-up from the workshop will be forwarded to the concerned EDA networks to examine their further implementation within future EDA activities and projects.
EDA is particularly grateful to the external moderators who worked with EDA on the ‘food for thought’ papers and led the discussions in respective groups:
- Dr. Aris GEORGOPOULOS, Assist. Professor in European and Public Law – Advocate, Head of Defence and Strategic Procurement Research Unit, PPRG, School of Law, University of Nottingham
- Dr. Vincenzo RANDAZZO, Legal Officer, Public Procurement Legislation and Enforcement, DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW)/G/3, European Commission, Brussels
- Dr. Daniel FIOTT, Security and Defence Editor at EU Institute for Security Studies
- Mr. Dusan ŠVARC, Deputy director of the Czech Republic’s Defence and Security Industry Association (DSIA), EDA SME Senior Advisor
- Professor Martin TRYBUS, Professor of European Law and Policy, Director, Institute of European Law, Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham,
- Mr. Francisco MENE, Delegate to NATO NIAG, LoI, EDA, ASD for TEDAE (Spanish Defence Industry Association), EDA SME Senior Advisor.
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