Council and MEPs reach interim deal on AGILE defence innovation programme

The Council of the EU and MEPs have reached a provisional agreement to set up a rapid defence innovation programme (“AGILE”) with a €115 million budget to finance small- and medium-sized businesses developing new defence technologies.

The AGILE programme is designed to encourage development of new defence technologies with fast-track grants and access to testing and certification.

Tonino Picula, a centre-left MEP from Croatia and member of the Parliament’s security and defence committee, said: “With a swift agreement on AGILE, we are accelerating the path from innovation to deployment while strengthening our SMEs, ensuring support for Ukraine, reinforcing safeguards against strategic dependencies, enhancing security of supply, and providing robust oversight to help shape future EU…