Proposal for a Regulation establishing the European Defence Industry Programme and a framework of measures to ensure the timely availability and supply of defence products (‘EDIP’)

Summary:

Legislative initiative - tabled by the European Commission on 5 March 2024 - establishing the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP) and a framework of measures to ensure the timely availability and supply of defence products. This is a text with EEA relevance.

Further information:

Russia's invasion of Ukraine marked the return of territorial conflict and high-intensity warfare on European soil. The production capacity of the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB) has been tailored to respond primarily to limited Member State needs, mostly along national diving lines, due to decades of public underinvestment. Defence companies often faced the need to reduce production rates in order to keep production lines afloat and maintain skilled personnel, while producing limited quantity of defence systems for national customers.

The surge of demand for certain defence products in Europe caused by a changed security environment happened against the backdrop of an EDTIB constrained by limited production capacity. In the long run, this situation raises the question of defence industrial readiness in Europe. This is closely linked to the broader challenge of security of supply (SoS) of defence equipment in Europe.

Following the war outbreak and the conclusions within the Versailles Declaration (2022), the European Commission and the EU's HR for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy published a Joint Communication on Defence Investment Gaps Analysis and Way Forward. The war raised pressing challenges for the EU and its countries, and its continuation over time keeps aggravating structural issues affecting the competitiveness of the EDTIB. It also questions the ability to ensure a sufficient level of SoS to Member States.

In order to implement the actions announced in the European Defence Industrial Strategy (EDIS), the European Commission adopted on 5 March 2024 a draft Regulation establishing the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP). It seeks to reconcile the urgent with the long term, by maintaining support for the EDTIB under the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027 and preparing for reading in the future. The proposed EDIP is structured around the following pillars:

• Strengthening the competitiveness and responsiveness of the EDTIB;
• Enhancing the ability of the EDTIB to ensure the timely availability and supply of defence products;
• Contributing to the recovery, reconstruction and modernisation of Ukraine's Defence Technological and Industrial Base (Ukrainian DTIB).

Official

European Commission: DG Defence Industry and Space: European Defence Industry Programme https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/eu-defence-industry/edip-future-defence_en

European Commission: Press Release, 05/03/2024: First ever defence industrial strategy and a new defence industry programme to enhance Europe's readiness and security https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_1321

European Commission: Questions and answers on the European Defence Industrial Strategy and the European Defence Industry Programme (5 March 2024) https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_24_1322

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News

EurActiv, 22/03/2024: EU leaders divided over how to finance weapons https://www.euractiv.com/section/defence-and-security/news/eu-leaders-divided-over-how-to-finance-weapons/

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