Too Much Spending, Too Little Defense
EU defense is currently facing a critical juncture, in industrial, technological, and political terms. For years, the debate has focused on the amount of European military spending, usually measured in terms of GDP, but the real issue today is the quality of spending and, above all, its excessive fragmentation. Europe spends a total of over €300 billion annually on defense, a figure comparable to China and second only to the United States. Yet this critical mass does not translate into equivalent strategic capacity. The Continent continues to depend significantly on external technologies, systems, and operational capabilities, while industrial programs remain dispersed along national lines, resulting in duplication and structural inefficiencies.
Industrial Fragmentation and Structural Limitations
Today, dozens of different weapons system platforms operate in Europe, while in the United States there are just a few standardized models. Fragmentation results in inadequate industrial supply chains, procurement processes, and technological standards, reducing economies of scale and slowing down innovation. However, in a context where global competition is increasingly being played out on technologies such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, cyber, and space technologies, characterized by high fixed costs and therefore significant economies of scale, this means the self-imposition of a strategic constraint.
The New Transatlantic Balance
The changing international context makes the situation even less sustainable. The new US security strategy has made it clear that the EU can no longer be considered a simple beneficiary of security paid for by the United States, but must become a player capable of independently contributing to the stability of the European continent. This does not imply a withdrawal of the United States from Europe, but rather a redefinition of the relationship. US deterrence remains, within NATO, but it is increasingly contingent on Europe's ability to organize itself as a coherent security system.
From Cooperation to Integration
For all this to happen efficiently, a shift from national spending instruments to common platforms is imperative. This means not simply about cooperation between member states, which Europe has practiced for decades with limited results, but about upstream integration. This means designing systems that are interoperable from the outset, building EU-wide industrial supply chains, data sharing, technological standards and capabilities.
The first signs of this transformation are already visible and, for the first time, are not limited to political declarations but take the form of concrete instruments. European joint procurement programs, new financial mechanisms, and joint industrial initiatives are gradually shaping a change of paradigm: no longer coordination between national systems, but the construction of shared capabilities.
New European Policies and the Governance Challenge
This is the context for initiatives such as the European Defense Industrial Strategy (EDIS), which defines a long-term trajectory to strengthen the European defense industrial base. It explicitly aims to shift a growing share of military procurement to EU suppliers and promote joint programs, thus creating the conditions for economies of scale and greater interoperability. This is complemented by the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP), which represents the first attempt to translate this strategy into operational and financial tools, thus moving beyond a purely national approach to defense industry planning. Even more significant is the evolution towards EU-wide financing instruments inspired by the SAFE (Security Action for Europe) program, which in recent years has served as a model for investment coordination initiatives in the security and resilience fields. SAFE also introduces a platform approach at the financial level: mobilizing common resources, facilitating joint procurement, and reducing the risk for private investment.
These initiatives, taken together, point towards a clear direction. The goal is not simply to increase spending, but to transform its structure, moving from a sum of national decisions to an integrated continental system of investment, production, and innovation. The challenge now is one of scale and governance: without a significant acceleration of resources and greater integration between Member States, these instruments risk falling short of the intended objective. But if consolidated and expanded, EDIP, EDIS and the SAFE-inspired programs can represent the cornerstones of the transition towards common platforms that is now the essential path for the future of European defense. The end point is not necessarily an EU army, but an integrated ecosystem in which European industry, technology, and operational capabilities converge.
The Future of Europe
The real choice, therefore, is not between more or less spending, but between continuing to operate in a scattered fashion or building a shared platform capable of generating critical mass. In the first case, the EU will remain an incomplete, dependent, and vulnerable player. In the second, it will be able to transform defense into one of the pillars of its economic and strategic sovereignty.
