Plan voor ontwikkeling van mogelijkheden van het Europees Defensie Agentschap

The French Presidency of the Council of the European Union welcomes the adoption by the Member States on 8 July 2008 of the first conclusions of the capability development plan drawn up by the European Defence Agency with the Military Committee of the European Union.

This plan is an essential element of the re-launch of the European capability process, which is one of the main priorities of the French Presidency with regard to defence.

It will allow the Member States to begin identifying, in an exhaustive manner, the gaps liable to jeopardise their ambitions for the European Union and their opportunities for cooperation to fill in these gaps (prioritising protecting forces in operations against improvised explosive devices and ground-air missiles, improving the availability of helicopters, medical support in operations, the fight against naval mines, network-centric operations, etc.).

The French Presidency of the Council of the European Union encourages the European Defence Agency and the Military Committee of the European Union to continue their work. It hopes that as of the end of this year the Member States of the European Union will be able to commit themselves, each at their own level, to national initiatives and to contribute to ongoing and future European initiatives on the basis on these first conclusions. Collectively the 27 countries of the EU should be able to ensure that they can cover all of the priority action areas identified in this capability development plan.