Source: European Parliament
Member States remain in the driving seat for defence whilst benefitting from the added value offered by the EU programmes and instruments supporting cooperation between European defence industrial players and between Member States, and incentivising investment in defence capacities.
In that respect, the Commission is particularly vigilant in ensuring the respect of the allocation of competences, as enshrined in the Treaties.
The Commission is fully aware of the responsibilities of the individual mentioned in the parliamentary question within RTX Corporation, as both the organisation and the individual are registered in the Transparency Register[1].
However, the Commission respects the freedom of every professional organisation to be represented by whomever it considers fit for this purpose.
As regards their relation with external stakeholders, Commission Members and staff members are bound by stringent rules and internal control standards, included in particular in the treaties, the Staff Regulations[2] and the Conditions of employment of other servants of the EU, as well as the Code of Good Administrative Behaviour[3].
These rules aim, in particular, at ensuring the independence, impartiality, objectivity and loyalty of Commission Members and staff members in the exercise of their duties. This includes the protection of any sensitive or classified information.
Finally, the issue of foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) is very high on the agenda of the Commission, especially in the context of recent Russian attempts to undermine the EU and its Member States’ democratic processes.
FIMI is one of the key aspects of the recently adopted European Preparedness Union Strategy[4] and will be addressed in the upcoming European Democracy Shield.
- [1] https://transparency-register.europa.eu/searchregister-or-update/organisation-detail_en?id=87564644126-75.
- [2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/1962/31(1)/2014-05-01/eng.
- [3] https://commission.europa.eu/about/service-standards-and-principles/ethics-and-good-administration/good-administration/code-good-administrative-behaviour-and-complaints_en.
- [4] JOIN/2025/130 final, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:52025JC0130.