Ms Dinka Dinkova:

Maybe I can venture to reply. We are not subsidising. These are collaborative European programmes that invest in research and development in the case of the European Defence Fund or investing in developing industrial capabilities, ramping up industrial production through the measures that the Deputy mentioned. All of these are measures that are co-funded so there is a certain amount of the EU budget that goes into those programmes and an amount, depending on the action that is co-funded, by the member states or the companies themselves. We do not see this as a subsidisation of the defence industry. It is an effort to develop European defence capabilities and the contracts or projects are awarded on a competitive basis, as in other areas of European programmes.