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The EU’s European Defense Agency (EDA) has an ambitious agenda to rationalize Europe’s defense industry and open up arms procurement, even as observers note Europe’s steadily-declining military capabilities that are trending toward a crisis point of relevance.

DID recently covered a major defence-related report from the transatlantic CSIS think-tank, and EDA head Nick Whitney’s response to that report helps underline the overall thrust of his agency’s efforts. As he noted, in the midst of a generally positive reaction to CSIS’ document:

”...governments and industries have distinct roles – and things generally go along better if both parties remember that. The EDA is a creation of governments – so, in addressing the industrial and technological aspects of European defence integration as you have asked me to do, I shall concentrate on some of the challenges that I believe European defence ministries – my shareholders – are faced with.”

DID has summarized these seven challenges as follows; the full entries can be found in the text of Whitney’s speech:

• The first is to place the right requirements on industry.

• Second, governments have an obligation to try to point the way ahead.

• Third, governments must pool their requirements.

• Fourth, if consolidation on the demand side can help consolidation on the supply side, then we also need a consolidated market in which demand and supply can meet.

• Fifth, though harnessing the power of the market will be helpful, it is not enough.

• Sixth, European defence ministries will have to pay increasing attention to the balance between what they spend on personnel – currently more than half their defence budgets – and what they spend on investment – currently about one quarter.

• Seventh, and arguably most important, governments face a major challenge in the fields of defence research and technology. Actually, you can broaden that out – Europe faces a major challenge in preserving and developing its technology base across the piece.

Whitney began his wrap-up with these thoughts:

“The key point I suggest, which Europeans need to recognise, and then to act upon, is that if we wish to preserve a globally competitive defence technological and industrial base in Europe, then we must invest in it; we must invest more than we currently do; and we must do more of that investment together.”

See also:

• CSIS Report (Oct 12/05) – European Defense Integration: Bridging the Gap between Strategy and Capabilities [PDF format]

• Forum Europe’s New Defence Agenda