More innovation in EU defence: Parliament and Council agree on AGILE

Brussels – A programme to respond swiftly and cost-effectively to the security needs arising from Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The European Parliament and the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU reached a provisional political agreement yesterday (15 July) on establishing a programme to accelerate innovation in the defence sector. AGILE is a “new €115 million instrument designed to provide rapid, agile and targeted financial support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – including start-ups and scale-ups – developing emerging and disruptive defence technologies.” The aim is to ensure that the European Union supports all SMEs that place defence innovation at the heart of their business. 

The Council and Parliament explained that AGILE is designed to stimulate innovation through fast-track grants and access to testing and certification, and to streamline the procurement of products supported by the programme itself. Its structure allows Member States to participate in “defining the challenges” in the field of security to ensure that the products developed meet their capability requirements. It also demonstrates that SMEs and start-ups can provide the technological solutions required to meet European capability needs, thereby playing “a role in reducing the Union’s strategic dependencies.” The programme also aims to increase financial support for SMEs under the next multiannual financial framework (MFF).

The agreement includes the following elements: a focus on SMEs and ‘disruptive’ innovation, speed and scale, collaboration with key players in the defence industry, and access to testing. With regard to the first point, the agreement confirms the programme’s focus “on SMEs, start-ups, and scale-ups” working on “emerging and disruptive” defence products, including adapting civilian technologies for defence applications, with the aim of bridging the gap between development and implementation. On the issue of speed, the agreement maintains the four-month fast-track procedure for disbursing funds, strengthening AGILE’s role as a complement to the Union’s existing defence-industrial instruments. As regards collaboration with key players in the defence industry, the aim is to strengthen links with the large companies that dominate the sector, including through matchmaking activities – processes or services that bring together two or more parties with similar interests, objectives or characteristics – which should increase the uptake of products supported by AGILE. Finally, there will be accelerated access to testing and experimentation facilities to overcome a key obstacle for SMEs in bringing products to market.

 “Europe cannot afford to be slow when the threat is quick,” reiterated Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, MEP for Renew and Chair of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE). The MEP stressed that “just four months after the Commission presented its proposal, Parliament, Council and Commission have delivered a political agreement through swift, constructive and highly productive cooperation.” With the agreement on AGILE, “we are accelerating the path from innovation to deployment while strengthening our SMEs, ensuring support for Ukraine, reinforcing safeguards against strategic dependencies, enhancing security of supply, and providing robust oversight to help shape future EU defence initiatives,”  MEP (S&D) Tonino Picula  added.

The provisional agreement must now be formally approved by Parliament and the Council. Once adopted, it will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU. The new programme is expected to become operational from early 2027.