News

Commission unveils significant actions to contribute to European Defence, boost innovation and address strategic dependencies

16 February 2022
ENDR team

On the 15th of February, 2022 the Commission announced a number of Commission-led initiatives in areas critical for defence and security within the European Union. These comprise its Contribution to European defence, covering the full range of challenges, from the conventional defence industry and equipment on land, sea and air, to cyber, hybrid and space threats, military mobility and the relevance of climate change; and a roadmap on critical technologies for security and defence.

These new initiatives are concrete steps towards a more integrated and competitive European defence market, particularly by enhancing cooperation within the EU, thereby building scale, mastering costs and enhancing operational effectiveness. With its announcement, the Commission provides input in the run-up to the EU Strategic Compass on Security and Defence.

The Commission has, in particular, identified the following main new areas to further strengthen the competitiveness of the European defence market:

• explore how to further stimulate Member States investments in key strategic capabilities and critical enablers that are developed and/or procured in EU cooperative frameworks;
• further incentivise the joint procurement of defence capabilities developed in a collaborative way within the EU;
• call upon Member States to continue moving towards streamlined and more convergent arms exports control practices, in particular for defence capabilities developed in an EU cooperative framework.

Read more here.