Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what extra liabilities arise for the UK from the funding linkage between the European Investment Bank and European Defence Fund programmes.

The European Defence Fund programme comprises the Research Window and a Capability Window, itself divided into a European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP) and a Financial Toolbox. Both the Research Window and the EDIDP will be funded from the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework and have no funding linkages with the European Investment Bank (EIB). There is as yet little detail on the Commission's proposal for a Financial Toolbox.