{"id":58200,"date":"2026-06-10T13:48:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T12:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/?p=58200"},"modified":"2026-06-10T14:02:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T13:02:54","slug":"meps-strike-a-deal-to-strengthen-europes-defence-readiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/10\/meps-strike-a-deal-to-strengthen-europes-defence-readiness\/","title":{"rendered":"MEPs strike a deal to strengthen Europe\u2019s defence readiness"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On Wednesday, Parliament and Council negotiators agreed on proposals to accelerate defence investment and improve the EU\u2019s responsiveness to security challenges.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The package of legislative proposals, forming part of the so-called\u00a0\u201cOmnibus V\u201d EU simplification measures<\/a>, is intended to accelerate the approval of permits for defence-related projects and the export of defence equipment between EU countries. It also seeks to simplify security and defence procurement procedures and EU cooperation on defence contracts, ensure that EU chemical regulations adequately reflect defence requirements, and simplify the implementation of\u00a0the European Defence Fund<\/a>\u00a0(EDF).<\/p>\n

The proposals are designed to support up to \u20ac800 billion in defence investment over the next four years under the\u00a0ReArm Europe Plan\/Readiness 2030 initiative<\/a>, enabling member states and the defence industry to better respond to growing security challenges.<\/p>\n

Acceleration of permit-granting for defence readiness projects<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the acceleration of permit-granting procedures for defence projects, such as the construction of new factories or the expansion of existing facilities, co-legislators agreed on an EU-wide default period for permit decisions of 42 working days (as of the acknowledgement of a completed application). The deal, however, states that national authorities can on a case-by-case basis extend the time limit a maximum of two times by up 60 days in exceptional circumstances, e.g. for complex projects or where there are risks to the environment or the health and safety of workers and additional time is necessary to resolve them. In such cases, the total duration of the permit-granting process shall not exceed 102 working days.<\/p>\n

Such extensions will be communicated to the project promoter, accompanied by an explanation and an expected decision date. If national authorities do not follow up by the applicable deadline, the principle of tacit approval should apply. National authorities should then within 8 working days from the expiry of the deadline inform project promoters and specify the requirements which these permits are subject to.<\/p>\n

The report also calls on EU countries to establish single points of contact for defence project promoters, with the digital tracking of applications, annual reporting to the Commission on permit activity and SME support, and EU monitoring of tacit approvals to ensure transparency and consistent implementation.<\/p>\n

Intra-EU transfers of defence-related products and simplified procurement<\/strong><\/p>\n

Included in the agreement are measure to remove regulatory obstacles to facilitate and accelerate public procurement in defence and intra-EU transfers of defence-related products.<\/p>\n

The deal introduces a new general transfer licence for defence-related products that should make it easier for defence companies to operate across EU borders. Member states will be required to publish these licences, giving industry a more predictable framework for intra-EU transfers.<\/p>\n

On defence procurement, the agreement updates and raises the threshold for the application of EU procurement rules, extends the maximum duration of framework agreements from seven to ten years, and introduces greater flexibility for member states to conduct occasional\u00a0joint procurement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Parliament and Council also adopted a joint statement committing to examine in the future, empowering the Commission to facilitate the intra-EU transfers of defence products, and to consider the EU preference criteria in procurement.<\/p>\n

Both institutions acknowledged the urgency of decisively ramping up Europe’s defence capacity by 2030, strengthening the European defence technological and industrial base (EDTIB), supporting SMEs, removing procurement bottlenecks, and ensuring a well-functioning EU market for defence products \u2014 including intra-EU access to defence supply chains.<\/p>\n

Facilitating defence investments and conditions for defence industry<\/strong><\/p>\n

When it comes to facilitating investments and conditions for defence industry, co-legislators agreed to simplify the management and implementation of the European Defence Fund (EDF). They updated and clarified the list of award criteria that defence projects have to meet to obtain EDF funding, prioritising \u2013 as proposed by MEPs \u2013 projects that are able to showcase the highest standards of excellence, quality and efficiency.<\/p>\n

They also updated the rules related to increased funding under the EDF, both with regard to eligible actions and funding rates, to enable further financial support to activities involving small- and medium size enterprises (SMEs). Moreover, at the request of MEPs, co-legislators agreed to extend the increased funding under the EDF, already applicable to\u00a0PESCO<\/a>\u00a0projects, to actions developed in the context of a\u00a0Structure for European Armament Programme (SEAP)<\/a>, which was established as part of the\u00a0European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP)<\/a>. To strengthen cooperation with Ukrainian entities, MEPs and Council negotiators agreed to allow costs related to testing in EU candidate country Ukraine to be eligible for EDF funding.<\/p>\n

Finally, the agreement between the Parliament and Council also confirms that EU countries can apply certain exemptions to EU environmental and chemical regulations in the interest of defence. As requested by the MEPs, these exemptions will be allowed only when justified.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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On Wednesday, Parliament and Council negotiators agreed on proposals to accelerate defence investment and improve the EU\u2019s responsiveness to security challenges. The package of legislative proposals, forming part of the so-called\u00a0\u201cOmnibus V\u201d EU simplification measures, is intended to accelerate the approval of permits for defence-related projects and the export of defence equipment between EU countries. […]<\/p>\n

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The package of legislative proposals, forming part of the so-called\u00a0\u201cOmnibus V\u201d EU simplification measures, is intended to accelerate the approval of permits for defence-related projects and the export of defence equipment between EU countries.…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58200"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58203,"href":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58200\/revisions\/58203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}