{"id":456255,"date":"2026-06-10T14:36:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T12:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/06\/10\/accordo-tra-parlamento-e-consiglio-sulle-ultime-norme-per-semplificare-la-difesa\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T16:42:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T14:42:13","slug":"eu-parliament-and-council-agree-on-new-rules-to-streamline-defence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/06\/10\/eu-parliament-and-council-agree-on-new-rules-to-streamline-defence\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Parliament and Council agree on new rules to streamline defence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – From nit\u2011picking regulator to facilitator of the Old Continent\u2019s industrial competitiveness<\/strong>. The European Union has long pursued this \u2018genetic mutation\u2019, aimed at radically reshaping its very raison d\u2019\u00eatre \u2014 or at least how it is commonly understood in public discourse<\/strong>. The main pillar of this renewal strategy is the so-called Omnibus<\/em><\/a>: measures for regulatory simplification<\/strong>, often on a considerable scale, through which Brussels aims to radically cut the bureaucratic red tape that frequently hampers European businesses’ activities. A different package has been drawn up for each economic sector, and today (10 June), the EU Parliament and Council have made progress on the text of the so-called Omnibus V<\/em><\/a>, dedicated to the defence<\/strong> sector.<\/p>\n

Based on the recommendations set out in a White Paper<\/a> published in March 2025, the package aims to strengthen the operational readiness of the EU\u2019s defence by 2030<\/strong> by facilitating investment, simplifying authorisation and procurement procedures, and streamlining intra-EU cooperation.<\/p>\n

Following its adoption by the European Commission in June last year, the text was referred to the Parliament and the Council for consideration. This morning, representatives of the two institutions announced that they had reached a provisional agreement on the final provisions at the heart of Omnibus V<\/strong> (following an initial agreement finalised on 20 May<\/a>), retaining the substance of what the Commission had already decided. MEPs and Member States will have to formally adopt the text for it to enter into force.<\/p>\n

The Cypriot presidency of the EU Council <\/strong>expressed its satisfaction<\/a><\/strong> with the agreement through the Deputy Minister for European Affairs, Marilena Raouna<\/strong>. \u201cWith today\u2019s agreement, we are simplifying rules for defence-related projects and providing greater support to Europe\u2019s defence industry,<\/strong>\u201d she stressed. In Parliament, she was echoed by the Democratic Party MEP and co-rapporteur for the measure, Pierfrancesco Maran<\/strong> (S&D), who clarified that today\u2019s agreement \u201cstrengthens European defence readiness while maintaining a high level of protection for health, the environment and the integrity of the internal market.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

A new approach to the European Defence Fund: simplification and greater accessibility for SMEs<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\n

The agreement signed today primarily aims to simplify the management and implementation of the<\/strong> European Defence Fund<\/a> (EDF). Established in 2021, it is the financial instrument created by the Commission to support research and development of Made in the EU <\/em>military technologies. To facilitate its use, the agreement provides that companies interested in participating in joint projects funded by the EDF will face less cumbersome bureaucratic procedures<\/strong> than at present. <\/p>\n

Furthermore, the Parliament and the Council have reached a compromise on a particularly sensitive issue: access to the \u2018results\u2019 of projects supported by the Fund<\/strong>. Member States argued that, as co-financers of the project, they were responsible for controlling the use of military technologies developed with EDF funding. The companies involved, on the other hand, claimed control over their products and the intellectual property rights to them. Ultimately, the text of the agreement provides for \u201cpreserving the right of co-financing states to access projects,<\/strong>\u201d while ensuring \u201cadequate protection of the intellectual property rights of industry<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n

 The set of rules governing the EDF aims to increase the involvement of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)<\/strong> in intra-European initiatives, as these companies increasingly have innovative capacity that is not far behind that of the major defence giants. In particular, the agreement introduces the so-called funding rate bonus<\/strong>: if a SME participates in a project, the share of funding covered by the EDF increases proportionally<\/strong>. This way, according to the co-legislators, large companies should have a greater incentive to involve smaller players. <\/p>\n

Finally, the agreement aligns with the Commission\u2019s proposal to relax certain EU environmental rules<\/strong>, providing for exceptions to the use of certain chemicals (which would otherwise be banned) in defence projects. The ‘fig leaf<\/strong>‘ inserted by Parliament and the Council is a vague pledge to nonetheless ensure “a high level of protection for human health and the environment.<\/strong>“<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Authorisation procedures: “Cutting red tape”<\/strong><\/b><\/h4>\n

\n

Another issue the agreement addresses, central to Brussels\u2019 efforts to simplify regulations, concerns the authorisation procedures for launching new industrial projects<\/strong> in the defence sector. According to the EU, the first step towards making them more “streamlined” is to Europeanise them<\/strong>, but Member States are reluctant to relinquish the power<\/strong> to approve or reject certain military technologies. <\/p>\n

For this reason, the Parliament and the Council are again proposing a compromise. On the one hand, this ensures the \u201cpreservation of Member States\u2019 competences;<\/strong>\u201d on the other, it establishes a \u201charmonised framework<\/strong>\u201d with common rules. <\/p>\n

For example, the aim is to set a European limit on the maximum duration of the authorisation procedure<\/strong>: 42 working days, which may be extended to 102 <\/strong> if national authorities deem that \u201cexceptional circumstances\u201d exist. If no decision has been made by the deadline, the application is deemed tacitly approved. \u201cAt the same time, Member States may provide for exceptions to this principle<\/strong> in cases where there is a serious risk to public health or national security,” the Council points out.<\/p>\n

Slovak MEP Lucia Yar<\/strong> (Renew), one of the measure\u2019s co\u2011rapporteurs, particularly stressed the cut in authorisation\u2011related red tape. \u201cFor too long, authorisations have taken up to two years<\/strong>, while this agreement paves the way for a radical reduction in these timescales, while maintaining the necessary safeguards,<\/strong>\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

New rules for tender procedures and intra-EU transfers<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\n

In Brussels\u2019 view, even the procurement procedures<\/strong> through which a Member State decides from which industry to purchase arms and other military technologies are an obstacle to the development of the EU\u2019s defence \u201creadiness.\u201d With the aim of \u201celiminating administrative delays<\/strong>\u201d that characterise these processes, the agreement seeks to \u201cadapt the general EU rules on public procurement to the specificities of the sector.\u201d<\/strong> And it does so while maintaining the same leitmotif: <\/em>fewer safeguards on controls, faster decision-making. <\/p>\n

Among the measures envisaged in this regard is raising the threshold above which a contract must follow stricter, more time-consuming procedures.<\/strong> Thus, administrative burdens will be eased, giving authorities “more time to focus on the major defence projects that really matter,” the Council\u2019s press release explains.<\/p>\n

Finally, the drive for simplification also extends to the rules governing transfers between EU Member States of the various military components<\/strong> that need to be assembled to produce the final product. In this area too, the aim is to streamline authorisation procedures by introducing two new general transfer licences<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

The first will regulate exchanges between EU-certified organisations<\/strong>, while the second will govern flows between organisations from different countries collaborating on joint projects<\/strong> (so-called “European partnerships”). In both cases, those involved will be able to operate with greater ease and freedom<\/strong>. In both cases, they will again be subject to less stringent and potentially safer checks<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The agreement provides for simpler procedures for participating in projects funded by the European Defence Fund and establishes more flexible rules (and less stringent controls) on authorisation procedures and public procurement<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7899,"featured_media":456195,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[30809],"tags":[27336,29731,26920,31601,31518,34394,30690],"class_list":["post-456255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-defence-security","tag-defense-and-security-en","tag-diffesa-ue-en","tag-rearmament-en","tag-omnibus-difesa-at","tag-omnibus-v"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7899"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456255"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":456256,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456255\/revisions\/456256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}