Today, the Commission presented a number of initiatives in key areas for defence and security in the European Union, covering the whole range of challenges, from conventional defence equipment and industry on land, at sea and in the air, to cyber, hybrid and space threats, military mobility and the importance of climate change.
By the end of 2022, the European Defence Fund (EDF) will have invested €1.9 billion in defence research and capability development projects. This will kick-start key large-scale collaborative capability development projects while stimulating defence innovation.
In particular, the Commission will explore a number of instruments to incentivise the joint procurement of defence capabilities developed in a collaborative way within the EU, including by proposing a Value Added Tax (VAT) waiver, setting up new financing solutions, and reviewing the EDF bonus mechanisms to favour commitments to joint procurement of equipment, maintenance and operations in addition to joint development of the relevant defence technologies.