Abstract

Dating back to the idea for a European Defence Community and the subsequent efforts of the Western European Union, defence-industrial cooperation in Europe is not a new phenomenon. In recent years however, the EU member states have intensified their collective defence-industrial endeavours at the EU-level through a policy framework and concept called the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB). Defence-industrial bases are essential for military capability development and defence; they are essentially what link the factory floor to the battlefield.

Whereas a national DTIB is home to political interaction between governments and defence firms, the EDTIB brings together individual member states, defence firms and EU institutions such as the European Commission and the European Defence Agency. This complex milieu – characterised by competing politico-military, commercial and policy interests – is politically contested and gives rise to some important questions.

Why and how has the EDTIB emerged? What interests are embedded in its development? What does the EDTIB mean for European integration? In this talk Daniel Fiott attempts to theoretically engage with such questions, before then looking at the realities of defence-industrial cooperation in Europe through a number of case studies.