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Publishers Abstract:
This article discusses the contribution of the European Defence Agency (EDA) to a common European security and defense policy, both on the basis of the Joint Action and the Constitutional Treaty. After briefly considering the historical, political, legal, economic, and industrial background to the new Agency and its main tasks and basic organisational structure, the significance of its establishment is discussed. The establishment of a European armaments agency has been on and off the agenda for a long time. The EDC Treaty had envisaged the supranational Board of Commissioners as the armaments agency of the European Defence Community (EDC). With the creation of an Agency, the Member States have introduced an institutional structure for a European armaments policy in the context of the Common Foreign and Security Policy. While it is doubtful whether this is legally possible, they have given a clear signal to the supranational institutions of the Union that they wish this policy to be located in the Second Pillar.
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