Defence Minister Radu Miruta on Tuesday proposed a European policy aimed at making use of factories in the defence industry that currently do not benefit from modern technology but can be revitalised.

These facilities already have environmental permits, ammunition depots or production halls and are strategically located, the deputy prime minister said at the second edition of the Defence Romania Security Dialogue.

Miruta said he had presented this proposal to European Commissioner for Defence Andrius Kubilius, as well as to President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola. He stressed that at the level of EU and NATO member states discussions are taking place on increasing production, but the capacity for expansion in the private sector is often limited.

'I speak with companies that in recent years have doubled or tripled their production, but it is still not enough. So I looked at what Romania has. These factories in the national defence industry, which are not currently technologically upgraded, still have something. They have facilities that already hold environmental permits, they have ammunition depots, production halls with specific technical characteristics, bunkers, testing ranges, strategically positioned locations, but they do not all have the necessary technology. I believe that it is not only to Romania's advantage but also to that of EU and NATO member states for each component to put on the table what it has. What we have in some of the factories of the national defence industry probably represents 20-40% of what is needed to have a technologically advanced production capacity,' the minister said.

He also proposed that existing modules be used, benefiting from the support of technology companies in order to speed up the launch of production.

'Regardless of the funds that part of the private sector has available, they cannot buy either time or the locations that are strategically positioned in Romania and that have the component needed to produce more and faster in Romania. Therefore, what I strongly support is an indexing at European level of these capacities, looking not only at what is 100% ready but also at areas that partially have what is needed and to which the necessary technology can be added, with the Romanian state and the European Union coming with the financial instrument that would bring these two entities together,' the minister added.

Radu Miruta underlined that those components of the defence industry that can be revitalised must be identified in order to support the needs of the Romanian Army.

He mentioned that Romania is in a 'disadvantageous paradigm.' Thus, the Ministry of Defence 'constantly' issues orders, while procurement needs are announced in a predictable manner through the National Procurement Plan, approved by the Supreme Council for National Defence and Parliament. On the other hand, orders from the Ministry of Defence 'often' cannot be supplied by the national defence industry.

Miruta urged Romania to use funds from the SAFE Programme so that, through them, parts of the national defence industry can be 'revived.'

'I have often said that in some plants of the national defence industry, instead of robotic arms and state-of-the-art technologies, vegetation had grown. It is not shameful to accept this, it is shameful not to do anything. What we envisaged through this SAFE mechanism was for those who have the technology that the national defence industry lacks to bring this technology in place of the vegetation that has grown in some factories. And yes, it can be done, because the order is paid for by the Romanian state, it is managed by the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Economy and the Chancellery, and it is entirely legitimate to use this instrument to technologically upgrade what we currently have insufficiently modernised in the national defence industry,' Miruta said. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Irinela Visan; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)