Security of supply in EU defence: friends in need?

On June 28th 2016, the European Union published its new Global Strategy (EUGS) for foreign and security policy. As part of its rather vague call for a “sustainable, innovative and competitive” European defence industry, the strategy stresses the need for European ‘security of supply’ in the defence sector. For national defence planners, security of supply means a guarantee that they will have access to defence equipment, irrespective of the member-state in which their suppliers are located. More concrete proposals for achieving this will be included in the Commission’s ‘Defence Action Plan’, due in the autumn of 2016, which will outline a security of supply ‘roadmap’. This insight explains the tensions and trade-offs the Commission must consider in its drive to establish EU-wide security of supply.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: The EU Global Strategy and Defence: Ambitious but Credible? http://www.europeansources.info/record/the-eu-global-strategy-and-defence-ambitious-but-credible/

ESO: Key Source: European Union Global Strategy http://www.europeansources.info/record/european-union-global-strategy/

ESO: Background information: High Representative Mogherini presents EU Global Strategy for Foreign and Security Policy, June 2016 http://www.europeansources.info/record/high-representative-mogherini-presents-eu-global-strategy-for-foreign-and-security-policy/

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