Armament in Europe: Constraints and opportunities to optimise European armaments processes

After a lengthy tug-of-war, the Foreign Ministers of the EU member states agreed in mid June the key elements of the European Defence Agency which is to be newly established. The Agency is to help improve the European military capabilities and intensify armaments cooperation in Europe. Whether the Agency will actually be able to fulfil the range of tasks entrusted to it and as a result justify the hopes placed in it largely depends on the willingness of its members to develop armament processes and their political framework conditions in Europe on the basis of common objectives in a truly joint manner. This willingness is anything but certain.Against this background the study examines the development options of armaments in Europe in general, i.e. the environment in which the Agency will have to operate. It discusses two development options deemed realistic and arrives at the following results and recommendations: The deepening of European armaments cooperation required to implement the ESDP ambitions will have to be promoted by a smaller group of EU member states. Within this "core" capability and force planning would have to be closely coordinated, if not, as a rule or concerning specific aspects, developed jointly. In addition, the members would have to establish their "own" common market and develop common procurement rules. Furthermore, they would have to agree competition rules, e.g. concerning antitrust law and state aid as well as a common set of rules for intra-community transfer and export into non-EU member states. The cooperation in the armaments organisation should also be expanded to comprise the formulation of a common policy to control developments in the defence technological and industrial base. (SWP-Research Papers / SWP)