Changes from plenary report to adopted text

Removed(12) It is also necessary to adapt the eligibility rules that might be set out in the work programme of DEP so that it is possible to provide, for duly justified security reasons, that legal entities established in associated countries, other than Ukraine or members of the EFTA which are members of the EEA, and legal entities that are established in the Union but are controlled from third countries, other than Ukraine or members of the EFTA which are members of the EEA, are not eligible to participate in all or some actions focused on technologies with dual-use potential under any specific objective. In such cases, calls for proposals and calls for tenders should be restricted to legal entities established or deemed to be established in ▌ and controlled by Member States, Ukraine or members of the EFTA which are members of the EEA, or their nationals This beneficial treatment strengthens Europe’s overall digital ecosystem by fostering shared security interests, enhancing mutual resilience to existing and emerging technological threats, and deepening strategic partnerships that benefit the stability and competitiveness of the continent.

Removed▌

Removed(14) The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) set out in Regulation (EU) 2021/1153 of the European Parliament and of the Council, aims to accelerate investment in the field of trans-European networks, enabling synergies between the transport, energy and digital sectors. In order to support the connected computing infrastructure required by defence products and technologies and beyond these areas, the objectives of the CEF digital sector within that Regulation should be extended to the deployment and provision of digital capacities such as cloud, AI and AI Gigafactories. In order to minimise environmental impact, optimise the use of scarce materials, and ensure long-term sustainability in line with the Union’s climate and circular economy objectives, it is important that the deployed capacities aim to be resource-efficient and follow circularity principles.

Removed(15) Military mobility is also one of the objectives of the CEF programme. The Joint White Paper for European Defence Readiness 2030 recognised military mobility as an essential enabler for European security and defence and stressed the Union added-value in supporting dual-use infrastructure for mobility. The Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) policy serves as a key strategic instrument in building the Union’s cross-border transport infrastructure. Although originally intended for civilian purposes it also holds a remarkable potential for dual-use, military and civilian. In line with the Strategic Compass, the Union aims to strengthen the dual-use transport infrastructure of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) in close cooperation with NATO and other like-minded partners. The objective to complete the TEN-T core network by 2030 remains unchanged.

Removed(15a) Actions financed under CEF should contribute to the improvement and acceleration of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) and be designed for interoperability and compatibility with civilian use. Investment in dual-use infrastructure benefits both military readiness and civilian connectivity. Given the 94% overlap between the military mobility corridors and TEN-T dual-use infrastructure, funding of military mobility will benefit civilian use.(15b) The Niinistö report specifically refers to the need to intensify further work on priority dual-use transport corridors for military movements and the extension of fuel-supply chains for the armed forces along those corridors, as well as stockpiling and strategic reserves of energy. This position is echoed in NATO statements, which note that major infrastructure gaps remain particularly along its Eastern Flank. Estimates indicate that the Union requires an initial investment of at least EUR 70 billion to adapt its transport and logistics infrastructure for the rapid movement of troops and equipment across Union territory in the event of conflict. The Union should give special consideration to the necessary development of dual-use fuel infrastructure, whose core task is to ensure civilian needs, such as ensuring supplies to civil aviation, and that switches to military mode in wartime. This development should contribute not only to civil logistics and military mobility but also to transition towards a more sustainable transport and energy system in line with objectives of AFiR and ReFuelAviationEU.

Removed(15c) Furthermore, in relation to military mobility, there is a need to increase the protection of European territories from conventional military threats. Adapting the TEN-T to dual-use infrastructure requirements may, where appropriate, include measures to safeguard assets intended for civilian–defence use with regard to military counter-mobility and related risks, by designing, reinforcing, and protecting the infrastructure so that it is less vulnerable to disabling, blocking, or destruction by hostile acts, hazards, or sabotage.

Removed(15d) The mid-term review of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Cohesion Fund both established by Regulation (EU) 2021/1058 of the European Parliament and of the Council introduced the possibility to invest in defence or dual-use infrastructure to foster military mobility benefiting from a pre-financing of [30%] of the amounts programmed and the possibility to apply a Union financing of up to 100 %. In cases where Member States transfer resources allocated to them in shared management to CEF, they should benefit from the same conditions on pre-financing and co-financing for dual-use transport infrastructure projects as introduced in the ERDF and Cohesion Fund. In such a case, these amounts should be reserved to projects developing the Military Mobility corridors as identified by the Member States in Military Requirements for Military Mobility within and beyond the Union as well as digital connectivity and capacities, including the availability of appropriate logistics hubs for the deployment and subsequent redeployment of forces to and from the Union.

Removed(15e) In order to accelerate the swift and seamless movement of personnel, material and assets within the Union, Member States are encouraged to cooperate closely to achieve a swift upgrading of the “hot spots” infrastructure within the four military mobility corridors, and particularly focus on the cross-border sections of these corridors, including rail, ports, and airports of these corridors, which have an impact in the short term. Priority investments on these corridors, their cross-border sections and the hot spots identified by the Commission should be carried out in cooperation with NATO.

Removed(15f) In light of the increased European defence-related investments with the Union budget, it is essential to ensure that such resources are allocated transparently, aligned with the Union’s strategic interests, and protected from misuse or diversion. The Commission should develop appropriate measures, if duly justified to safeguard the Union’s strategic interests, to enhance transparency, including clear identification of beneficiaries and ownership structures, while duly protecting confidential information. These principles should guide future instruments supporting Union defence objectives.

Removed(15g) Taking into account the urgency of the situation, the necessity to boost financially defence-related projects in Europe, and the expiry of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) established by Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council in August 2026, Member States may consider to use the already existing possibility to amend their National Recovery and Resilience Plans to reallocate resources to their financial contributions towards Union defence industrial instruments. This would follow the already existing logic of using RRF funds in innovation within the space sector with nearly half of the Member States mentioning space-related actions in their RRF plans, including both traditional space nations and newer actors. Such reallocated Member State contributions are to be used for the benefit of the Member State concerned for the purpose of contributing to the achievement of one or more of the objectives set out in Article 4 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 2021/241.

Removed(15h) In accordance with the Financial Regulation, Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulations (EC, Euratom)No 2988/95, (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 and (EU) 2017/1939, the financial interests of the Union are to be protected by means of proportionate measures, including measures relating to the prevention, detection, correction and investigation of irregularities, including fraud, to the recovery of funds lost, wrongly paid or incorrectly used, and, where appropriate, to the imposition of administrative penalties. In particular, in accordance with Regulations (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 and (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has the power to carry out administrative investigations, including on-the-spot checks and inspections, with a view to establishing whether there has been fraud, corruption or any other illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the Union. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is empowered, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/1939, to investigate and prosecute criminal offences affecting the financial interests of the Union as provided for in Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council. In accordance with the Financial Regulation, any person or entity receiving Union funds is to cooperate fully in the protection of the financial interests of the Union, to grant the necessary rights and access to the Commission, OLAF, the Court of Auditors and, in respect of those Member States participating in enhanced cooperation pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2017/1939, the EPPO, and to ensure that any third parties involved in the implementation of Union funds grant equivalent rights.

Removed(16) Regulations (EU) 2021/694, (EU) 2021/695, (EU) 2021/697, (EU) 2021/1153▌and (EU) 2024/795 should therefore be amended accordingly.

Removed(17) Given the urgent need to enable crucial investments in defence in the context of pressing geopolitical challenges, this Regulation should enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Removed(18) Since the objective of this Regulation, namely to strengthen research and development activities in dual-use and defence, improve the competitiveness of the Union’s defence industry and therefore contribute to the Union’s defence by refocusing investments of these critical priorities, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, but can rather be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 TEU. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary to achieve those objectives.

Removed(18a) This Regulation has implications for the Union budget. Accordingly, the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgets adopted a budgetary assessment, which forms an integral part of Parliament’s mandate for negotiations,

RemovedHAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

RemovedRegulation (EU) 2021/694 [Digital Europe Programme] is amended as follows:

Removed(-1) in Article 3(1), the first subparagraph is replaced by the following:

Removed‘1. The general objectives of the Programme shall be to support and accelerate the digital transformation of the European economy, industry and society, to bring its benefits to citizens, public administrations and businesses across the Union, and to improve the competitiveness of Europe in the global digital economy while contributing to bridging the digital divide across the Union and reinforcing the Union’s strategic autonomy and societal resilience, through holistic, cross-sectoral and cross-border support and a stronger Union contribution.’

Removed(-1a) in Article 3(1), second subparagraph, point (b) is replaced by the following:

Removed‘(b) in the private sector and in areas of public interest, to widen the diffusion and uptake of Europe’s key digital technologies, promoting the digital transformation and access to digital technologies, and increasing the resilience against hybrid threats in the digital domain;’

Removed(1) in Article 3(1), second subparagraph, the following point is added:

Removed‘(c) to support and accelerate dual-use projects, services, competences and applications, strengthening societal resilience.’;

Removed(2) in Article 4(1) the following point is added:

Removed‘(d) deploy and operate AI Factories and new generation AI Gigafactories specialised in developing, training, and running the most complex, very large, AI models and applications, including hardware and software necessary for such deployment.’;

Removed(2a) in Article 5(1), point (b) is replaced by the following:

Removed‘(b) make the capacities referred to in point (a) accessible to businesses, especially SMEs and start-ups, as well as civil society, not-for-profit organisations, research institutions, universities and public ▌ sector, including the armed forces, in order to maximise their benefit to the European society and economy;’

Removed(2b) in Article 6(1), point (b) is replaced by the following:

Removed‘(b) support the building-up and best use of European knowledge, capacity and skills related to cybersecurity, combatting hybrid threats in the digital domain, and the sharing and mainstreaming of best practices;’

Removed(2c) in Article 6(1), point (e) is replaced by the following:

Removed“(e) improve resilience against hybrid threats, cyberattacks, contribute towards increasing risk-awareness and knowledge of cybersecurity processes, support public and private organisations in achieving basics levels of cybersecurity, for example by deploying end-to-end encryption of data and software updates;”

Removed(2d) in Article 6(1), point (ga) is added:

Removed‘(ga) support the development of advanced threat intelligence and cyber-defence capabilities tailored to defence-related infrastructure, including secure-by-design hardware, intrusion-resilient systems and cryptographic technologies.’

Removed(3) in Article 8(1), point (a) is replaced by the following:

Removed‘(a) support the public sector and areas of public interest, such as health and care, education, judiciary, customs, civil protection, defence, transport, mobility, energy, environment, cultural and creative sectors, including relevant businesses established within the Union, to effectively deploy and access state-of-the-art digital technologies, such as HPC, quantum, AI and cybersecurity;’;

Removed(4) in Article 12, paragraph 5 is replaced by the following:

Removed‘5. The work programme may also provide that legal entities established in associated countries, other than Ukraine or members of the EFTA which are members of the EEA and legal entities that are established in the Union but are controlled from third countries, other than Ukraine or members of the EFTA which are members of the EEA, are not eligible to participate in all or some actions under Specific Objectives 2 and 3 for duly justified security reasons, and particularly in actions focused on technologies with dual-use potential under any specific objective. In such cases, calls for proposals and calls for tenders shall be restricted to legal entities established or deemed to be established in ▌and controlled by Member States, Ukraine or members of the EFTA which are members of the EEA, or their nationals▌. Such restrictions may be applied to access to the capacities deployed under such calls. The restrictions shall be proportionate and applied only where strictly necessary.’;

Removed(4a) in Article 20 the following point 2a is added:

Removed‘2a. For calls for proposals intended to support dual-use technologies, services, competences or applications, projects with a trans-European dimension, as referred to in paragraph 2, point (d), shall be given priority where multiple applications are submitted.’;

Removed(4b) in Article 24 the following point 3a is added:

Removed‘3a. The Commission shall, where appropriate, include in its work programme actions and activities designed to favour the cross-border cooperation of entities, aimed at ensuring broad geographical coverage across the Union and at promoting integrated and Union-wide supply chains.’;

Removed(4c) in Annex I, Specific Objective 5, point I, point 4 is replaced by the following:

Removed‘Deploy decentralised solutions and infrastructures required for large-scale digital applications such as connected automated driving, unmanned aerial, ground, surface and underwater vehicles, smart mobility concepts, smart cities, smart rural areas or outermost regions, in support of transport, energy and environmental policies and in coordination with the actions for digitalising the transport and energy sectors under Connecting Europe Facility.’;

RemovedRegulation (EU) 2021/695 [Horizon Europe] is amended as follows:

Removed(1) in Article 46, the following paragraph 4a is inserted:

Removed‘4a. By derogation from Article 212(3) of the Financial Regulation, repayments including reimbursed advances, revenues and unused amounts net of fees and costs of EIC blended finance of the EIC pilot under Horizon 2020 shall be considered to be internal assigned revenues in accordance with Article 21(3), point (f) and Article 21(4) and (5) of the Financial Regulation and the time restriction of two years set out in the second subparagraph of Article 212(3) of the Financial Regulation shall apply as from [date of entry into force of this Regulation].’

Removed(2) in Article 48(1), the second subparagraph is amended as follows:

Removed(a) in point (a), the following sentence is added:

Removed‘As an exception to Article 7(1), such support may include civil applications with potential dual-use, provided that such applications are primarily designed for civil use’;

Removed(b) in point (b) the following sentence is added:

Removed‘As an exception to Article 7(1), such support may include civil applications with potential dual-use, provided that such applications are primarily designed for civil use’;

Removed(c) in point (c), the following sentence is added:

Removed‘As an exception to Article 7(1), such support may include civil applications with potential dual-use, provided that such applications are primarily designed for civil use.’;

Removed(d) in point (d), the following sentence is added:

Removed‘As an exception to Article 7(1), such support may include defence and security technologies referred to in Article 2(1)(a)(iv) [of the STEP regulation], provided they demonstrate dual-use potential’;

Removed(2a) in Article 50, the following paragraph 1a is added:

Removed‘1a. The Commission shall guarantee the proper oversight of the application of the exceptions to Article 7(1) provided for in Article 48, including by tracing, monitoring and reporting it in an appropriate publicly available manner, and by providing additional information to the European Parliament concerning support for dual-use applications and critical technologies upon request.’

RemovedRegulation (EU) 2021/697 [European Defence Fund] is amended as follows:

Removed(-1) in Article 2, point (15a) is added:

Removed‘(15a) ‘small mid-cap enterprise’ or ‘ small mid-cap’ means an enterprise fulfilling requirement established by Commission Recommendation on the definition of small mid-cap enterprises [C(2025) 3500 final]’;