Brussels – The European Parliament’s plenary session has approved AGILE, the pilot programme proposed by the Commission in March 2026 with a budget of 115 million euros to support the development and market entry of innovative defence technologies, ranging from artificial intelligence to unmanned systems. Between 20 and 30 projects are planned for 2027.
Commenting on the vote is Elena Donazzan, MEP for Fratelli d’Italia-ECR and vice-chair of the ITRE Committee, who describes it as “an excellent result for European and Italian defence companies, particularly for SMEs, start-ups and scale-ups.” Donazzan stressed that “Europe is finally equipping itself with a rapid and flexible tool to take innovation from the laboratory to the field, within a timeframe that meets real security needs.”
As shadow rapporteur for the ECR Group, Donazzan said that she defended “the core of the programme: simplified procedures, funding decisions within four months and operational deployment within one to three years.” The text, she added, strengthens the integration of SMEs into defence value chains by providing access to test centres and partnerships with major groups, and promotes synergies with NATO.
“The war in Ukraine has shown that, in defence, the speed of innovation makes all the difference: with AGILE, our SMEs can play a leading role,” concluded the MEP.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
