Dimitri Zurstrassen in Phenomenal World:
Europe’s defense industry operates in a paradox: it desperately needs the economies of scale that only integration can provide, yet remains trapped in a fragmented landscape that enriches American contractors while impoverishing European taxpayers. Around 55 percent of arms imports by European states between 2019–2023 came from the US, up from 35 percent between 2014–2018. According to the European Parliament, lack of European coordination in defense costs the EU €18–57 billion per year. A series of EU initiatives, spurred by the war in Ukraine and more recently Donald Trump’s return to the White House, have sought to alter this status quo since 2022.
In March of that year, the Versailles Declaration signaled a renewed EU commitment to bolstering defense capabilities. Initiatives such as Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP) and the European Defense Industry Through Common Procurement Act (EDIRPA) aimed to stimulate ammunition production and incentivize joint procurement. Two years later, seeking to address insufficient production capacity, lack of coordination, and foreign dependency, the March 2024 European Defense Industrial Strategy (EDIS) and the European Defense Industrial Programme (EDIP) were established.
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