Eurodefense Nederland nieuws

  The absence of a common and harmonised arms export control in the European Union is an issue complicating Member State (MS) exports of military equipment already for a long time. Major combat systems can only be exported when all member MS originating equipment allow the OEM to do so. Sometimes also transport across another MS is also complicated by export limitations of that particular MS. A Eurodefense working group (EWG35) researched this issue in the spring of 2024. Their report contains the  following conclusions and recommendations and was endorsed by the Eurodefense Presidents Council on 22 May 2024: 1. Solid control of arms export is a major government responsibility of our respective Member States, but, if cleared, strong coordinated political support as well is desirable in a very competitive environment. 2. T o achieve a critical mass for our defence industries, arms exports to third countries are of critical importance, just as the progressive establishment of...

  Eurodefense heeft de Tweede Kamer gesuggereerd om mogelijkheden voor een Europese pool met militair personeel te laten onderzoeken en waar nodig de wet- en regelgeving aan te passen. Het Commando Zeestrijdkrachten kampt met personeelsproblemen. Recent heeft dit ertoe geleid dat de Zr. Ms. Rotterdam aan de kant is gelegd. Dit is een ongewenste situatie voor een krijgsmacht, die gereed moet zijn voor de verdediging van het Nederlandse en bondgenootschappelijk grondgebied. Een deel van de oplossing zou kunnen liggen in multinationale bemanningen.  De uitdagingen van de nabije toekomst​ vragen om een schaalbare marine die adaptief en wendbaar kan optreden. Vlootvernieuwingsprogramma’s zijn of worden gestart om (weer) over een technologisch hoogwaardige vloot te beschikken. Echter, juist de technisch opgeleide bemanning is de groep waar het in de marine het meest aan schort. Met alle gevolgen van dien.    Nederland is niet alleen met deze uitdaging. Verschillende van o...

The growing tensions in the world, the electoral uncertainties, and above all the war of Russia against Ukraine and its threats to the territories of the Atlantic Alliance, stress the need to urgently improve in quality and volume the European operational and industrial Defence capabilities. This augments the absolute necessity to prepare ourselves as Europeans to the worse scenarios. We definitely need to spend more and better by reinforcing the common requirements among members states. At the same time, any possible defence procurement occasion has from now on to take into consideration the duty to reinforce the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB) through more consolidation at the prime contractor level and more competition in the supply chain (European Defence Equipment Market- EDEM) on a long-term vision. For reasons of resilience, restructuring the EDTIB should allow and promote spreading of production throughout our continent. To reach these objectives t...

The Joint Communication of 5 March 2024 on a new European Defence Industrial Strategy (EDIS) is an indisputable step forward, not least for the simple reason that it focuses on the industrial aspect of Europe's defence capability and therefore on strengthening itself and the Alliance.   On 1 June 2024 the Eurodefense network sent the comments below to the Presidents of the European Council, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Chief Executive of EDA, the director of OCCAR and multiple authorities in Member States of the European Union.  What are the strengths and weaknesses of this communication? We focus here on the founding principles of this Communication and not on its detailed recommendations for implementation, which is the subject of the proposal for an EDIP regulation, which will be discussed within the European bodies: 1. The strategic frameworks , namely the Versailles Declaration of 10-11 March 2022 and the Strategic Compass adopted unanimously by...