EU Council president urges bloc to work toward 'true defense single market'

GENEVA

EU Council President Charles Michel advised EU member states on Thursday to establish a single market for defense.

"We must work towards a true defense single market," Michel said in an address to the annual European Defense Agency (EDA) conference. "I feel that the time has come to create a real union of defense, coupled with a true defense single market."

He said the market should focus on two goals -- the bloc's "ironclad military support for the people of Ukraine" and making "European defense stronger."

To achieve a "true defense single market," he proposed four concrete ideas.

"First, we need to make the coordination of our defense spending more effective," he said, adding that the EDA should become a powerful European defense department.

That should be followed by adapting the bloc's regulatory framework "so we can act faster and with more flexibility," he said.

"Third, we must ramp up financing in our defense industry."

And lastly, he said, the EU needs to focus on concrete projects that have a structural European effect and provide safety for its citizens.

"We already have strategies for space and for maritime domains, but we can go further in the air domain," he said. "For instance, the EU could develop next-generation and fully interoperable capabilities in future combat systems."