The European Commission said on Tuesday it would seriously consider drafting new rules to force European Union member states to open up their jealously guarded defence markets.
Unveiling the results of a year-long consultation on the sector, the EU executive also said it would offer guidelines next year on when EU states can invoke security concerns as a reason for not putting defence contracts out to open tender.
Brussels has sought for decades to prise open Europe's national defence markets. EU states are suspected of invoking national security concerns to award local firms with contracts for provisions as basic as boots or catering.
"Action to clarify and improve EU law on defence procurement is imperative. We must now put our feet on the gas," said EU Internal Markets Commissioner Charlie McCreevy.
McCreevy said opening up the defence market to cross-border competition would "almost certainly" require more than a number of non-binding measures currently being prepared by the EU.
But he did not fully commit to producing a legally binding directive. A Commission statement said only that the option of such a move - which EU states such as France and Britain do not favour - would be "vigorously pursued" by the Commission.
Any directive would go further than a voluntary code agreed last month in which EU states pledged to allow more competition on defence contracts covered by Article 296 of EU law.
That article allows exemptions from open tenders if there are legitimate national security concerns. About half the 30 billion euros ($35 billion) a year of EU military purchases are thought to enjoy Article 296 protection.
The Commission directive, if proposed and adopted, would focus on the part of the market where Article 296 does not apply.
In spelling out rules for more open tendering, it would recognise specific constraints on a sector supplying soldiers on the ground, such as the need for confidentiality or guarantees that the supply chain would be secure, an EU official said.
However, it would be backed by law and any state found contravening could find itself taken before the EU Court of Justice as with any breach of EU law, the official added.
Greater competition for military procurement is hoped to bring better value for the limited defence budgets of the EU's 25 member states, which together barely make up half of US defence spending.
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