European defence industrial strategy

Summary:

The European defence industrial strategy (EDIS), unveiled on 5 March 2024, aims to enhance the EU's defence readiness, particularly its defence industrial capacity, by 2035. Despite a significantly increased €290 billion combined EU Member State defence budget in 2023 and a radically changed security environment following the launch of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, significant challenges for the EU to achieve defence readiness remain. The European defence technological and industrial base (EDTIB) suffers from fragmentation and limited collaboration, exacerbated by EU Member States' dependency on non-EU defence equipment. The EDIS emphasises collaborative and increased European investment in the EDTIB, fostering adaptability, and integrating defence readiness into all EU policies. It proposes, among other initiatives, the €1.5 billion European defence industry programme (EDIP), a new (voluntary) legal framework – the 'structure for European armament' programme – to facilitate and scale up Member States' cooperation throughout the defence equipment lifecycle, as well as several ways to ensure increased financing for the EDTIB. The strategy also proposes to deepen the partnership with Ukraine, aiming for long-term assistance and support for the Ukrainian defence industry. According to experts, the EDIS's success hinges on securing adequate funding and achieving genuine Member State buy-in. Experts doubt the sufficiency of the proposed funding and the feasibility of meeting non-binding targets, such as 50 % of procurement stemming from the EDTIB by 2030. At the end of the previous legislature, Members of the European Parliament urged that the EDIS and the EDIP should supplement current defence tools, ensuring sufficient EDIP funding and a regulatory framework to foster innovation and efficiency. They called on Member States to fund European defence instruments, supported a €100 billion debt-financed defence fund proposed by Commissioner Breton, and urged the European Investment Bank to reform its lending eligibility.

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