European Commission With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December 2009 the European Defence Agency and its tasks are enshrined in the treaties, refer to Article 42 (3) and Article 45 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU).
The article 42 (3) of the Treaty on European Union stipulates that the Agency “shall identify operational requirements, shall promote measures to satisfy those requirements, shall contribute to identifying and, where appropriate, implementing any measure needed to strengthen the industrial and technological base of the defence sector, shall participate in defining a European capabilities and armaments policy, and shall assist the Council in evaluating the improvement of military capabilities.”
The EDA has a particular status in the single institutional framework of the EU. It is the only Union agency having its foundation in the Treaties – this is otherwise only the case for the Institutions – and the Agency has an intergovernmental ministerial governance structure in which all participating Member States’ Ministries of Defence are being represented.