The 7Ds for Sustainability – Defence Extended

Abstract

The European Defence Union, a 70-year-old idea that has never been realised, can finally be built if Europeans close the existing defence capability gaps between themselves and the US. This publication proposes the creation of a fully capable European Defence Union through a structured, step-by-step process of strengthening essential building blocks ('defence pyramid'). It aims to prepare the Union to respond to growing security threats and instability in its neighbourhood, in complementarity with NATO.

This approach systematically addresses weaknesses through ten specific components. Having recognised the need for a European Defence Union, the next stage requires the EU to take essential action: reducing waste through Europe-wide military procurement and building the European defence market, ensuring efficient cross-border logistics activities and improving existing military mobility projects. Third, the study suggests that the Union should increase its investment in defence innovation and become competitive in dual-use research and technologies through a European DARPA (Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency). Fourthly, a European civil protection service should be set up to provide protection on a European scale. Fifth, the development of the European Defence Union should be completed and made fully operational by filling the strategic capability gaps, developing a military model, initiating a reform of the EU's current military missions and crisis management operations, and carrying out an institutional reform. Finally, the issue of a common European nuclear deterrent is addressed.

Footnotes

Author biographies

Michael Benhamou is the Executive Director of OPEWI - Europe’s War Institute and a research associate at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies. Formerly, he was a political advisor deployed with NATO and EU field operations in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Libya.

Steven Blockmans is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies, a Senior Fellow at the International Centre for Defence and Security (Tallinn), Visiting Professor at the College of Europe (Bruges and Natolin), and Editor-in-Chief of the European Foreign Affairs Review.

Mihai Chihaia is a Policy Analyst at the European Policy Centre where he covers EU security and defence policies. Previously, Mihai was part of the Security and Defence Programme of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Ionela Maria Ciolan is a Research Officer at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, focusing on European Foreign Policy, Security and Defence. In addition, Ionela is a 2023-2024 Re.Think CEE Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Daniel Fiott is Professor at the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, where he also heads the Defence and Statecraft Programme. Daniel is also a Non-Resident Fellow at the Madrid-based Real Instituto Elcano, where he analyses defence industrial issues.

Alessandro Marrone is Head of Defence Programme at the Istituto Affari Internazionali (Rome). Since 2018 he is also Professor at the Istituto Superiore di Stato Maggiore Interforze of the Italian Ministry of Defence. Since 2016 he is member of the Scientific Board of the Armament Industry European Research Group.

Christian Mölling is the Research Director of the German Council on Foreign Relations and heads the Security and Defence Programme. For more than two decades, he has been researching and publishing on geopolitics, security and strategy with a special focus on defence, armament, industries and technology.

Paola Tessari is a Senior Researcher in the Security Programme at Istituto Affari Internazionali (Rome). Since March 2022, she has also been involved in IAI’s activities in the framework of the EU Non-proliferation and Disarmament Consortium.

Adérito Vicente is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Odesa Center for Nonproliferation and an External Researcher at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies.

Klaus Welle is the Chair of the Martens Centre’s Academic Council and former Secretary-General of the European Parliament (2009-22). He is also a Guest Professor in practice at the London School of Economics, a Visiting Professor at KU Leuven and a Leader in Residence at the Moynihan Center of the Colin Powell School for global leadership in New York.