The need for Europeans to urgently strengthen their defences is clearer than ever. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has pushed European countries to raise their defence budgets significantly. But Europeans face three big obstacles. First, the capability gaps to fill remain very large. Second, national procurement and capability development plans are quite fragmented. Third, the European defence manufacturing is undersized and largely organised along national lines. This policy brief takes stock of the EU’s involvement in defence, its challenges and its prospects. The Union has emerged as a significant defence actor in recent years: it has tools to help expand defence production, to foster joint research and development and to promote joint procurement. There are plans to scale these instruments up, and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen talks of establishing a ‘defence union’.
Author: Luigi Scazzieri, Assistant director, Centre For European Reform.
This article is available on the CER website.
