rapporteur . - Madam President, I would like to thank the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Ms Mogherini, for her substantive comments on our reports, and mine in particular on the Defence Markets Directive implementation. I would simply like to urge a strategic direction - in the College of the Commission as well - in implementing these Directives, in order to avoid totally contradictory decisions, such as Commissioner Vestager's recent one.

On the implementation of these directives, which enable a country like mine, Portugal, to go on with the dismantling of crucial Portuguese shipyards that have been producing for our navy, and then rubber-stamping that in a very distorted interpretation of the Directive. They also allow, or give the ‘Amen' of the Commission to the selling of critical defence technology companies or even critical infrastructure, such as the Port of Piraeus, to companies controlled by other foreign powers, namely China.

We in this Parliament definitely support your endeavours to push the Member States to deliver on the common financing of CSDP missions, namely military missions, because this is not just about facilitating fairer burden-sharing, it is about the only way to encourage the generational forces.

Equally important is overcoming the bureaucratic and political barriers which prevent cooperation between Member States and the Union, and even among EU specialised agencies, to ensure a more synergetic use, by civilian and military CSDP operations, of the existing capacities. Do you know, High Representative, that the European Maritime Safety Agency, which is based in Lisbon, is actually providing very crucial information for the Atalanta mission? It could also do this for the Mediterranean mission. Yet they do not have a mandate for that. Is this not stupid? Should we not actually acknowledge and actually make full potential of that contribution? Ultimately, I just want to make your point. Indeed, we need more defence, more European defence, because facing the challenges we have no single country...

(The President cut off the speaker)