European Defence & Security Conference

European Defence & Security Conference

On 16 October 2024, the 4th annual European Defence & Security Conference took place in Brussels. A variety of panels touched upon financing-related topics, both public and private, but equally relevant is the reason for EU-level support for the defence industry.

At its core, the EU has always been a peace project between its members and has had great success in that endeavour. However, in the current regional political climate, where the security of Europe is facing external threats, the strategy of keeping Europe harmless risks making Europe defenceless also.

From this perspective, cooperation within the EU on defence and the defence-industry allows for Member States to trust and defend each other and themselves with military capabilities. To support this mutual trust, the increase in military capabilities must be guided by their common Union. On the other hand, the regional security decline is happening faster than the European defence buildup, which also means that the pace must be increased.

This gets us to the manners of guidance, and more importantly, support that were discussed at the Conference:

• Consistency: Prioritising types of actions (e.g. development, testing and prototyping, manufacturing capacity, or most of all, innovation) would streamline funding, which is necessary when considering budget-constraints.
• Innovation: The EDF showed industry leaders that cooperation with SMEs allows niche solutions for innovative projects, making innovation more efficient. Innovation happens so rapidly that stockpiled weapons age faster, thus production adaptability surpasses capacity in importance.
• Onshoring supply chains: Decreasing risks involving raw materials and sensitive technology is a positive for economy and security.
• “Defence Single Market”: EU standards for the entire market, like for other industries, streamlining cooperation in procurement, research, development, and production.
• Synergy between public funding and private financing: Private investment in defence is controversial, more EU funding would mainstream defence and make the industry approachable. The European Innovation Council’s Trusted Investors Network to increase synergy, including for defence, launched only days after the Conference.

Further points made regarding funding touched on joint-procurement and purchase guarantees, and even on revisions to the EU’s current Multiannual Financial Framework.

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