EU to strengthen defence industry

The European Union (EU) Wednesday said defence should remain a priority on the EU agenda due to increasing instability, especially in the EU neighbourhood, and constant budget cuts among the bloc's member states.

EU defence will be one of the main topics in the first Competitiveness Council under the mandate of the Italian EU presidency, which will take place in Brussels Sep 25-26, Xinhua quoted the EU as saying in a statement.

European Commission Vice President Michel Barnier and Commissioner Nelli Feroci will present the Commission's Implementation Roadmap: a New Deal for European Defence, adopted June 24 of 2014.

They will give details about the priorities and the timetable set up by the Roadmap to deliver concrete outcomes to the European Council in June 2015.

EU defence industry is a major industrial sector with a turnover of 96 billion euros (about 123 billion dollars) in 2012 alone, employing about 400,000 people and generating up to another 960,000 indirect jobs.