Member States collectively spend about €200 billion a year on defence, which represents only about a third of the US defence budget alone. European countries are already incapable of carrying out military operations (example recent Libya intervention) without US support, whose share of all defence spending within NATO has risen to 75%. The European Parliament today adopted a Report in response to the uncoordinated defence budget cuts in recent years of the majority of EU Member States. The MEPs call for increased cooperation in the field of defence.

"There is a huge challenge facing us when it comes to both the reform of our Common Security and Defence Policy and also our good cooperation between the European Union and NATO. In particular, the EU should focus on synergies that would optimise the budgets of its members. The financial crisis is a global phenomenon and it has also touched the defence sector. There is a common tendency to cut spending on defence in the Member States, which is the subject of our concern. It is true that maintaining these expenditures, when we are in a financial crisis, where there are social pressures, is not an easy task. At the same time, thinking about our future, we simply cannot afford to neglect basic needs such as security and defence in such turbulent times", said Krzysztof Lisek MEP, author of the Report.

The MEPs agreed that in the light of current radical budgetary austerity measures, the EU cannot afford to pay the price of a non-Europe in the area of defence. The financial crisis is a good opportunity to increase cooperation in the field of defence in order to avoid duplication, and thanks to the effect of scale, costs of research and technology will decrease providing better use of the financial means.

"In my Report, I have presented some ways of optimising these expenditures. We must identify as quickly as possible the most promising and strategic projects, i.e. logistic support, medical assistance, strategic transport, maritime supervision, intelligence, protection against the use of biological and chemical arms. The idea of pooling and sharing of functions and resources is a must today; it will help us to reduce our costs in a constructive way without harming our security", concluded Krzysztof Lisek MEP.

For further information:

Krzysztof LISEK MEP, Tel: +33-3-88-175219

Katarzyna Klaus, EPP Group Press and Communications Service, Tel: +32-484-138359

Notes to Editors:

The EPP Group is by far the largest political group in the European Parliament with 272 Members.