{"id":170345,"date":"2026-07-20T03:00:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T01:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cde.ual.es\/?p=170345"},"modified":"2026-07-17T12:05:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T10:05:04","slug":"the-council-and-the-parliament-reach-a-political-agreement-on-a-programme-for-agile-and-rapid-innovation-in-defence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cde.ual.es\/en\/the-council-and-the-parliament-reach-a-political-agreement-on-a-programme-for-agile-and-rapid-innovation-in-defence\/","title":{"rendered":"The Council and the Parliament reach a political agreement on a programme for agile and rapid innovation in defence"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 15 July, the Council and the European Parliament reached a provisional political agreement on the proposal to establish a Programme for Agile and Rapid Innovation in Defence (AGILE<\/strong>), a new \u20ac115 million instrument <\/strong>designed to provide rapid, agile and targeted financial support to small and medium-sized enterprises \u2013 including start-ups and scale-ups \u2013 that are developing emerging and disruptive defence technologies<\/strong>. The agreement reached today ensures EU support for SMEs <\/strong>across the Union, enabling them to play a central role in defence innovation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"defensa<\/p>\n

SMEs are drivers of technological progress <\/strong>in critical defence sectors in Europe, but they need support to move from prototypes to operational capability. AGILE addresses this need.<\/p>\n

The programme was designed to stimulate innovation through the fast-track award of grants <\/strong>and access to testing and certification<\/strong>. It provides a mechanism for Member States to participate in defining the challenges, with a view to ensuring that the products developed meet the capability requirements of the Member States. It simplifies public procurement <\/strong>of products supported by AGILE.<\/p>\n

The co-legislators have worked together constructively and pragmatically to ensure that this pioneering programme can be implemented and become operational within a matter of months. AGILE will accelerate defence innovation amongst SMEs across the Union and demonstrate that SMEs and start-ups can provide technological solutions to Europe\u2019s capability needs, as well as play a role in reducing Europe\u2019s strategic dependencies. This will help to secure greater support for SME innovation in the next multiannual financial framework.<\/p>\n

Key elements of the agreement<\/h3>\n

The co-legislators have reached an agreement on the programme, which includes the following elements:<\/p>\n