WRITTEN QUESTION E-3158/01 by Massimo Carraro (PSE) and Giovanni Pittella (PSE) to the Commission. Airbus.
Date: 2001-11-14
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU industrial policy, European defence policy, aircraft, arms industry, industrial restructuring

16.5.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 115 E/235

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(7 January 2002)

All the Commission has received so far in the matter referred to by the Honourable Member is a facsimile
of 5 October 2001. The Commission has asked for additional documentation which has not been received
yet. Should this documentation contain evidence pointing towards a possible violation of Community
competition rules the Commission will, to the extent that this is in the interest of the Community, open an
investigation in order to establish whether those rules have been infringed. If an infringement were to be
found, the Commission will take the necessary measures to bring it to an end.

(2002/C 115 E/253)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3158/01

by Massimo Carraro (PSE) and Giovanni Pittella (PSE) to the Commission

(14 November 2001)

Subject: Airbus

According to press reports, the Italian Defence Minister, Antonio Martino, has made it clear that he has no
intention of buying 16 of Airbus’s planned A400M aircraft because he considers them to be ‘of little use’.

Will the Commission explain, in the light of its previous communications as well as the positions adopted
by the other European institutions, how important the building of this tactical and logistical military
transport plane would be for the development of the European defence industry and in the wider context
of the establishment of a European common defence policy?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(21 December 2001)

The Commission expressed its vision regarding the future of the European defence industries in its
Communications adopted in 1996 and 1997 (1).

In response to declining demand and increasing competition a restructuring process has started among the
the necessary
European defence industries. The European industry should be allowed to carry out
restructuring process, cooperate, or merge activities where they are similar or complementary, and thereby
improve its competitive position. Whilst industry must lead this process, the Member States and European
Institutions and organisations should seek to establish the necessary framework to allow for the proper
functioning of a European defence-related equipment market.

The focus for Commission activities is on the supply side in promoting action that will shape a European
defence equipment market and allow European defence procurement to be more cost effective.

As far as the demand side is concerned, the role of Member States and other multilateral organisations is
particularly important in areas such as the harmonisation in time and content of operational requirements,
and the creation of a European Armament Agency to run programmes with a European dimension.

The Commission welcomes the fact that common requirements lead more and more systematically to
common programs such as A400M. When launched, this major European programme, bringing together
the resources of Europe’s major aircraft manufacturers, will concretely give birth to Airbus Military
Company.

This is in line with the political goals agreed at the Helsinki European Council where it was also agreed to
seek further progress in the harmonisation of military requirements and the planning and procurement of
arms, as Member States consider appropriate.

(1) COM(96) 10 final and COM(97) 583 final.