mr president as british conservatives we are generally strong protagonists of open markets but as a number of speakers have confirmed the underlying thrust of this report is strengthening esdp and eu integration rather than any real economic benefits
it certainly has nothing to do with strengthening defence capabilities
i can see that there could be some marginal benefits in easier uk access to some other european countries markets in defence-related procurement
but there is a far greater advantage for others to access the uk market which has the largest defence spend and by the way the uk already has the most open defence procurement market in europe
of particular concern is that under the proposed rules a government or firm that has made huge investment in some aspect of defence r d may no longer be in a position to recoup this investment in the development and production phase
development contracts are expected to be opened up to european competition leaving a national government with no means of protecting intellectual property jobs or export opportunities
it will be a brake on r d there are other concerns as well but i have to say that this report is not really necessary from a defence industrial or indeed economic point of view
