BRUSSELS, July 3 (Reuters) - The European Commission on Friday proposed five large-scale cross-border defence projects, opening the way for them to access EU funds.
The proposed European Defence Projects of Common Interest include a drone and counter-drone project involving 26 EU member countries, Norway and Ukraine, and an Eastern Flank Watch project consisting of 13 EU members, Norway and Ukraine.
It also includes an integrated maritime and seabed defence project, an air and missile defence and early warning project and a space-based defence project.
"The new projects provide a framework for EU countries to work together on major defence initiatives that are too large or too complex for individual countries to develop on their own," the Commission said in a statement.
"By supporting long-term cooperation, they aim to strengthen Europe's defence industry and improve the EU's ability to respond to shared security challenges, in line with NATO capability priorities," it added.
For a project to be designated a European Defence Projects of Common Interest (EDPCI) it must be designed to boost innovation and the European defence industrial base’s competitiveness, while also aiming to reduce market fragmentation.
The drone project, called Drone and Counter Drone European Resolve (DECODER), "aims to enable coordinated development, scaling and deployment of European unmanned systems and counter-unmanned systems' capabilities to address critical capability gaps," according to the proposal, which notes that the overall investment considered by the drone project's participants amounts to 3.5-5 billion euros by 2033.
Under the bloc’s European Defence Industry Programme, a budget of 325 million euros ($372 million) is designated for the EDPCIs, with more funding potentially available in the future.
The proposed projects are subject to approval from the Council of the EU.
($1 = 0.8741 euros)
(Reporting by Lili Bayer, editing by Bart Meijer)
