Money-Matters-Briefing #37: EU’s spending on Defence and ways ahead
This short briefing is meant to outline the current defence spending in the European Union with an overview of existing instruments on- and off- EU-Budget as well as an outline of spending needs in the future.
The EU-Budget can finance European defence projects related to the EU’s competences. This means, it can finance projects in the fields of research, technological development, the improvement of the EU’s scientific and technological base[1], industrial policy[2] and the development and interconnection of trans-European networks[3]. Hence, the EU-budget finances the EU defence industry, research and military mobility.[4] In the current Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) a dedicated chapter (Heading 5) is foreseen for Security and Defence.