The most ambitious "Common Defence and Security" scenario foresees the progressive framing of a common Union defence policy, leading to common defence based on Article 42 of the EU Treaty.

8. Urges the European Council to draw the necessary lessons and take concrete measures towards overcoming the fragmentation of the European defence market; calls on the European Council to provide specific guidelines for defence policies and the European defence market, taking into account the specificities of the defence sector, in order to increase its transparency and competitiveness, and to guarantee the availability of the defence capabilities needed to ensure European security and fulfil the objectives of the CSDP;

7. Notes that the absence of a common defence industrial policy has led to considerable fragmentation of the defence market in terms of demand and supply, regulations and standards; recognises that a common defence industrial policy makes sense economically to reinforce the role of the European Union on the global scale and maintain Europe’s technological capacity while still taking into account the specificities of each Member State; believes therefore that European defence industrial policy should promote multidimensional cooperation for the benefit of the EU, outlining the main industrial objectives, mapping the comparative advantag ...[+++]es and strategic industrial sectors and emphasising the role of the European Defence Agency (EDA), one of main actors in defining European industrial policy, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) bodies in supporting cooperation among Member States; further recognises the need for the Defence Industrial Headline Goal 2030 to help coordinate the defence policies of the Member States; notes that cross-border and transatlantic industrial cooperation can facilitate access to new technologies, promote advanced product development and provide an incentive to seek effective measures to reduce costs and shorten the production cycle; notes that due to the financial crisis no EU defence industry can be viable on a national basis and that pursuing consolidation of the EU defence industry will lead to decreasing defence budgets;

28. Reaffirms that all of the above points should be tackled by means of a clear-cut long-term common political resolve, making full use of the potential offered by the Lisbon Treaty, and that any common defence policy intended to move gradually towards common defence must serve to strengthen the EU's ability to respond to crises and to provide for long-term peace-building, and above all enhance Europe's strategic autonomy and capacity to act; calls for an extraordinary European Council meeting to be given over to European security a ...[+++]nd defence; renews its call for the drafting of a White Paper on European security and defence, to be set up in a process that includes all relevant EU stakeholders, and to be based on national defence and security reviews in all the Member States which accord with a common template and allow for direct comparability of strengths and weaknesses in current capabilities and planning assumptions;

Let us consider in particular the changes that have taken place on the international scene over the last three years, with Mr Solana taking office in 1999, which represented a political step change in European foreign policy, the introduction of the euro on 1 January 1999 and the objective of a common foreign and security policy by 2003.

Incidentally, the report is most timely, because, with regard to all issues concerning foreign policy as a whole, in other words, the Union’s policy towards the rest of the world, security policy in all its aspects and defence policy, the European Parliament is clearly in a state of change.