The Steering Board in Capability Directors formation met today at the European Defence Agency, in Brussels. Directors discussed EDA’s approach to new Pooling and Sharing projects, ahead of the meeting of Ministers of Defence on November 30.
In the margins of the Steering Board, eleven Member States (Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Finland, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and United Kingdom) signed the Maritime Surveillance (MARSUR) Technical Arrangement. During the signature ceremony, Ms. Claude-France Arnould, EDA’s Chief Executive, said that “EDA has strongly supported the MARSUR development since 2006 and it has become a success thanks to your support. The Agency funded three studies; MARSUR exists now as a first level Network, which will have to be improved, and this is the purpose of the incoming Category B project, but it is entering its live phase, for which the Technical Arrangement is meant”.
The functioning and the added value of the MARSUR network was demonstrated successfully by Spain, Finland, France, Italy, Sweden and United Kingdom on 30 June 2011 in Brussels. This first level MARSUR Network is already available in its fully implemented technical solution in these six Member States.