I will not comment on a particular country

Academe critics of Brussels, Europe Defence realized little by little his ambitions. Barely two and a half years after the day, the European Defence Agency (EDA), which brings together 24 of the 25 countries of the Union, can flatter two achievements of importance. In six months, the partial opening of the of the arms market to competition, to more tenders of EUR 1 million, is already on EUR 5 billion. In parallel, 150 million will be devoted to the first military cooperation research programs. How to satisfy its Director General, the very British and very pragmatic Nick Witney. It is true that with 22 million euros of annual budget Agency does not have the means in the bureaucracy.

Six months after its entry into force, what results are you getting the partial opening of the armaments market conducted under the auspices of the code of conduct for the EDA

We are pleasantly surprised by the result. To date, we believe that tenders deposited represent approximately 5 billion. We were not expecting to. But it's a first. It will have to see how many calls for tender will be awarded outside the borders of the issuing country. We should have a better idea at the end of the first quarter of 2007.

If some countries play the game, two, and not least, the Italy and the Greece have filed no tender...

I will not comment on a particular country. Some take more time to adapt their procurement procedures.

The Commission wants to put order in the use of article 296, which exempts certain military purchases from normal competition rules ("Les Echos" of December 7). How do you react

It is a good thing that goes in the same direction as the code of conduct of the Agency. Recalling that the use of article 296 must be done on a case by case basis, the Commission puts emphasis where needed. Reminders are sometimes necessary.

Europe, via the EDA, has, for the first time in its history, military research programs ("Les Echos" of November 13). What are the main objectives of the Agency

We will continue to work for the opening of the market and the development of the research. But we must also think about the military capabilities which Europe needs, with a complete overview of what each country provides, which lack or, on the contrary, what is redundant. This has never been done at European level and this will help to identify avenues of cooperation. All this should ask between twelve and eighteen months for lead.

When a large program of weapons launched by the EDA

I wish that this could happen. But this need money and, in many cases, the ambitions exceed the resources available in each country. This is why I prefer to focus on concrete, accessible projects financially, for example, research at least in the short term. It is therefore unlikely launches a major arms project quickly...

The armaments industry yet speculate much about a future median armoured...

In armour, each has its program. It is possible that emerges a need for cooperation on median armoured around 2020. But we must first work on the needs. And, in parallel, work on brick technology, related to the protection of the forces for example.

If the European defence market is open to American industry, the reverse is not true. Can we expect equal treatment in the term

The question of exports is not part of the functions of the Agency, even if it might be thought that this will be a day. There are a lot of theoretical debates on this subject but are me not interested much because the reality is: the U.S. market is closed. I am more interested in the issues of technology transfer, real problems. For example, look at the case of the JSF. There is not much that Europe can do, if it is strengthening its defence industry by consolidating to better negotiate.

Are you in favour of a rapprochement between the EDA and Occar, the joint armaments cooperation organization, which manages the programme A400M including

No, for three reasons. First, bring together the two entities would require time, and I prefer to focus on concrete results.

Then, the two organizations are different in nature: the Agency depends on the Council of the Union, Europe, Occar depends only on six countries, even if they are European (). Finally, our roles are different. Occar is the natural choice for managing projects would be drawn from the Agency.

And in five years, when the EDA will be better established

I answer not necessarily in the same way. But today, this is not the priority. The Agency is in charge of strategic reflections and Occar takes its dependent tasks, say, more routine.