Versatile, inventive, committed: EDA helps transform EU defence

Tucked away on a residential street in Brussels, a relatively small European Union agency with a limited but highly effective budget celebrates two decades of operation. In the fog of war – Ukraine’s war is our war too – it is easy to lose sight of what has been achieved. The European Defence Agency has a fraction of the staff of a single country’s defence ministry, owns neither troops nor weapons, and is certainly not a kind of mini NATO.

From launching maritime surveillance technology among European navies in 2006 to procuring 155mm ammunition on behalf of Member States in support of Ukraine in 2023. We have been active in research and development from the outset. Our joint investment programme on force protection, also launched in 2006, remains one of the most significant so far, with the involvement of 16 Member States and Norway.

From helicopter training to coordinating our EU approach on hybrid threats, and from supporting innovative tech start-ups to helping to develop an Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) fleet, EDA’s civilian and military experts have done their utmost to help our armed forces, train together and anticipate tomorrow’s defence needs.

For many years, there had been two differing groups on EU defence:  those that felt huge progress had been made, and those who were impatient to see new European capabilities jointly developed and operated by Member States. With Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine, almost everyone has joined the second group. And rightly so.

The European Union is focused on helping Ukraine and the European continent defend itself, and determined to support the Ukrainian military by providing crucial supplies like ammunition and missiles, as well as training and financing. 

Now’s the time

Europe’s failure in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s contributed to the launch of the 1998 St-Malo Declaration. The goal was to allow us Europeans to act when the United States was busy elsewhere, stating that: “The Union must have the capacity for autonomous action, backed up by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them, and a readiness to do so.” Twenty-six years later, fulfilment of the declaration remains elusive.

While political support for defence in the EU has ebbed and flowed, over the past 20 years EDA has never relented in pursuing European cooperation, often without fanfare. EDA has been supporting its Member States, coherent with NATO. Our growth and success can be traced back to the establishment of the Agency.

Our clear mission, outlined in the Treaty on European Union distinguishes us as the only EU agency with this legal basis. While we have transitioned from primarily ad hoc projects to supporting ongoing initiatives like Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), we’ve remained adaptable. Our focus now extends beyond capability development to also supporting EU operations, and of course Ukraine.

What Europeans want

It is a collective effort. We now support the European Defence Fund, which co-finances multinational defence projects using money from the EU’s long-term budget. There, EDA helps manage projects. We have new European Commission-led initiatives, such as the Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP), also using the EU budget to help ramp up defence production capacity and to incentivise cooperation between Member States in defence procurement. Other new initiatives in defence are under discussion.

After all, it is what Europeans want.  Fully 77% of EU citizens are in favour of a common defence and security policy among countries, while 71% agree that the EU needs to reinforce its capacity to produce military equipment, according to the latest Eurobarometer poll published in May.

I often caution that our efforts are not a sprint but a marathon, and when we speak of cooperative capability development one could even compare it to a long-distance Ironman Triathlon. We cannot lose our focus and we must be patient.

An agency fit for the future

We must not rest on our laurels either. EU Ministers of Defence have updated the Agency’s mandate to address the worsening security situation, as well as the Agency’s evolving role. For the second time in EDA’s history, our strategic guidance, known as the Long-Term Review, has been fortified and now outlines how we can better help Member States throughout the cycle of developing the capabilities we need. We can also help with off-the-shelf purchases of weapons, ammunition and equipment if countries so choose.

Why does this Long-Term Review matter? In short, it puts us in a stronger position to aid Ministries of Defence in the EU. It means that current and future EU defence initiatives, policies, and legislation will build off each other, not in parallel or in competition. We will also work more closely with NATO.

At our Steering Board in May, Ministers of Defence laid the basis for a more ambitious EDA. It is a strong signal that the Agency is integral to cooperative efforts to strengthen capabilities at this crucial time.

Yet we are not in the business of producing high-level documents for their own sake.

Last year, we helped identify the priorities for EU capability development in the 2023 Capability Development Plan. We are now moving to suggest promising collaborative opportunities in the short and medium term. Taking into account what Ukraine needs, such areas of development could involve air defence,  countering unmanned aerial systems (UAS), loitering munitions and a focus on electronic warfare systems. Of course, some things will take more time, and we need to work together on underwater and seabed protection, the next generation of fighting vessels and possibly a multipurpose helicopter, not to mention the Main Battle Tank.

Defence will remain a top priority for the EU in the coming years as we live in a more hostile world. Europe must be able to defend its interests. We must forge a European defence industry and market. The European Defence Agency, versatile and inventive, remains at the ready.

Here’s to 20 more years – at least!