Emphasizing national budget constraints
Emphasizing national budget constraints, European initiatives for deeper
defence integration focus primarily on more efficient use of resources,
interoperability and reduction of duplicity in military expenditures, as outlined in
recent proposals for a European Defence Fund.
The aim is to “spend better and improve value for money” rather than a substantial increase in overall
spending.According to EC estimations, the fragmented European defence
industry and lack of cooperation on defence and security (90% of R&D and 80%
of procurement take place on a national level) costs EU members between EUR
25 and 100 bn annually.14 The European Commission thereby stresses the
duplication of military systems within the EU – 178 different weapon systems
used in the EU-28 compared to only 30 in the US.
The European Defence Action Plan (EDAP) aims at addressing this shortcoming by strengthening the
European Defence Single Market, reduce duplicity between EU members and
bolster competitiveness of the EU defence industry.
EU Forecast
euf:ba18.d:79/nws-01