Commission contribution to European defence

Summary:

Communication published by the European Commission on 15 February 2022, setting out an overview of its plans ahead concerning the development and strengthening of the European Union's defence sector. This is a contribution to the discussions in the framework of the EU's Strategic Compass.

Further information:

This Communication outlines concrete, new measures and initiatives in a number of critical areas and identifies key success factors towards a more competitive and harmonised European defence market. It includes:

• Stepping up investments for defence research and capabilities developed in EU cooperative frameworks;
• Facilitating synergies between civilian and defence research and innovation and reducing strategic dependencies;
• Incentivising the joint procurement of defence capabilities developed in a collaborative way within the EU;
• Calling upon Member States to continue moving towards streamlined and more convergent export control practices, in particular for defence capabilities developed in an EU framework;
• Strengthening the security and defence dimension of space at EU level;
• Enhancing European resilience inter alia by stepping up cybersecurity and countering cyber and any other hybrid threats, enhancing military mobility and addressing climate change challenges for defence.

• Alternative Source 1

Official

European Commission: Press Release, 15/02/2022: Commission unveils significant actions to contribute to European Defence, boost innovation and address strategic dependencies https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_924

European Commission: Questions and Answers: Commission contribution to European defence in the context of the Strategic Compass (15 February 2022) https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_22_925

European Commission: Space and defence press conference by Commissioner Breton (15 February 2022) https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_22_1082

---