The European Union and armaments: getting a bigger bang for the Euro

Up until now, EU member states have excluded armaments from the European integration process and have cooperated in this field outside the EU framework. However, there is a fair chance today that this will change: both the work of the Convention on the Future of Europe and the debate on the recent Commission Communication on a common defence equipment policy indicate a greater openness among national governments vis-à-vis possible EU involvement in armaments. This Chaillot Paper argues that the EU could indeed play a useful role in the necessary reform of Europe's armaments sector, because it could develop a more coherent institutional setting and bring in a broad set of relevant Community and CFSP instruments. Both could help to implement a comprehensive strategy in those three areas where action is mostly needed: procurement, research and the defence market.