EDA ANNUAL CONFERENCE: ASD PRESIDENT PIER FRANCESCO GUARGUAGLINI CALLS FOR GREATER ‘SYNERGY’ BETWEEN INDUSTRY, EU INSTITUTIONS AND MEMBER STATES TO DEVELOP EUROPE’S SECURITY AND DEFENCE CAPABILITIES

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9 February 2010, Brussels – Speaking at the EDA’s Annual Conference 2010, ASD President Pier Francesco Guarguaglini underlined that EU institutions, national governments and industry should work more together to better connect civilian security and military capability development in Europe.

In his intervention, Mr Guarguaglini emphasized that industry would ‘welcome a greater coherence in responsibility and governance inside the European Commission, between the European Commission and the Council, and between the EU and the Member States.’ 

For Europe to fully exploit the economic benefits of civil-military synergies in capability development, Mr Guarguaglini called for ‘the launch of a new investment cycle with the establishment of large scale technology demonstrator programmes involving at the same time security, defence and space’. He also advocated ‘the optimisation of the use of space systems’ as strategic assets, with a view to facilitating the development of an autonomous European decision-making process. Finally, Mr Guarguaglini called for ‘stronger coordination of the EU, EDA and ESA research areas’, and the thorough exploration of synergies between civil and military Research & Technology.

Mr Guarguaglini was a keynote speaker at the European Defence Agency’s fifth Annual Conference “BRIDGING EFFORTS - Connecting Civilian Security and Military Capability Development”, which explored how synergies between civilian security and defence could be maximised in the future. Other speakers at Conference included the Chairman of the European Union Military Committee, General Håkan Syrén, and the Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency, Alexander Weis.

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