Security and Defence
Cooperation is the only way forward
by Jiří Šedivý, Chief Executive, and Jean-François Ripoche, Director of Research, Technology and Innovation of the European Defence Agency (EDA), Brussels
A
fter the appalling and totally unjustifiable Russian aggression against Ukraine and with a fully-fledged war now raging at the European Union’s doorstep, there is today a common understanding – probably stronger than ever before that Europe needs to do more for its own security and defence. Even the US has started to acknowledge this, provided it does not undermine NATO, which, needless to say, remains more than ever the cornerstone of Europe’s security and defence. But what is required for Europe to take on more responsibility in defence and even – let’s be ambitious – become a security provider on a regional and global scale? I see two main prerequisites for that to happen, both of which are true challenges intrinsically linked to the European Defence Agency’s core mission and activities: cooperation and innovation.
Deeper cooperation, more and better spending Cooperation is the only way forward to make Europe a global player, especially in the security and defence realm, as none of its countries has the resources or capabilities to ensure stability and security on its own – not for itself and even less so for the whole of Europe. Hence the need to join forces and invest more, and better, in defence. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the end of February, things have already started to move as several European countries – Germany for instance – have pledged to review and increase their defence expenditure considerably. This is a long overdue step in the right
photo: © ITA, MoD
Europe’s defence challenges in times of conflict
direction, no doubt about that. But more spending does not automatically guarantee more resilience, efficiency or interoperability. To achieve that, Europeans must plan and invest better through cooperation: from joint priority setting to the development, procurement, and deployment of cutting-edge capabilities. Over recent years, EU Member States have put a defence planning framework in place at the European level with the Capability Development Plan (CDP), the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD), the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) and the European Defence Fund (EDF). This is an achievement. But having cooperation tools in place is not enough; they must also be systematically used to make EU defence cooperation the norm. And even then, the proof of the pudding is in the eating: cooperation must lead to concrete projects which must produce outcomes, ie usable defence capabilities. Several cooperation platforms are available to do that, including the EDA which has gained robust expertise and a track record in initiating and managing collaborative capability programmes. PESCO is another framework for cooperation for the 25 EU member states that participate in it. Finally, the EDF must serve as a financial incentive and co-finance such collaborative projects. Systematic defence cooperation is thus the first box Europe must tick if it wants to shoulder more responsibilities in defence and become a security provider.
Defence innovation or defence irrelevance Secondly, the EU must also be able to master cutting-edge technologies and their integration into defence products. To do that, it must be at the forefront of defence innovation. → Continued on page 42
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