Mr. Günther Oettinger:

The Deputy mentioned the number of the investments. Most of our member states are NATO members and NATO members agreed to invest 2% of their GDP in defence. It is an agreement of all our Ministers of defence and foreign affairs, not my agreement. The average Europe is investing is about 1.4%, so we have a gap. We can bring clear arguments that to standardise on a European level, to prepare tenders on a European level and to co-finance on a European level is much more efficient than to standardise and invest 28 times in parallel because the US is much more successful in investing and in getting back services, products and weapons systems. Why should Europe develop ten drone systems in parallel? It is better to have a European joint undertaking, a European team, and the defence union is the network therefore, agreed by 25 member states. It is in the taxpayer's interest to invest on a European level and to get more back than just to invest 25, 27 or 28 times in parallel.