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EU defence initiatives

With its Global Strategy in 2016, the EU raised its level of ambition on security & defence, and new cooperation tools were set up: the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence, the Permanent Structured Cooperation, the European Defence Fund and a revised Capability Development Plan. EDA plays a central role in all four and ensures coherence among them.

  • the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD). Launched by Member States in May 2017, its objective is to foster a gradual synchronisation and mutual adaptation of national defence planning cycles and capability development practices. First, a trial run was conducted from 2017-2018 to allow Member States to test and adapt the CARD methodology, followed by the first full CARD cycle carried out in 2019/2020. The first final CARD report, containing conclusions and recommendations for future cooperation, was presented by EDA to Member States' Defence Ministers in November 2020. Together with the EUMS, the EDA acts as the CARD Secretariat. 
  • the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO). PESCO was established in December 2017 by 25 EU Member States whose declared ambition is to make it the “most important instrument to foster common security and defence” and a tool intended to provide Europe with “a coherent full spectrum force package, in complementarity with NATO”. In March 2018, a first list of 17 PESCO projects were approved. On 19 November 2018, a second list of 17 additional projects was approved by the Council. Together with EEAS (including EUMS), the EDA acts as the PESCO Secretariat.
  • the European Defence Fund (EDF). On 7 June 2017, the European Commission adopted a Communication proposing a European Defence Fund (EDF) to co-finance collaborative European projects in the domains of defence research and capability development.The final decision on the setting up of the EDF was taken by the Council and the European Parliament in 2019/2020. The Fund started functioning on 1 January 2021 with a total agreed budget of €7.953 billion (in current prices) for the 2021-2027 period.
  • the revised Capability Development Plan (CDP). The CDP provides a full capability picture that supports decision-making at EU and national levels regarding defence capability development. It looks at future security threats, identifies capability needs and defines EU Capability Development Priorities commonly agreed by Member States. Periodic CDP revisions are produced by the EDA in close cooperation with Member States and with the active contributions of the EUMC and the EUMS. The last CDP revision was completed in June 2018 with the approval, by Member States, of 11 new EU Capability Development Priorities.