Defence Budgets and Cooperation in Europe: Trends and Investments

This is the second study on Defence Budgets and Cooperation in Europe (DBC) partially based on the compilation and analysis of open sources information conducted as part of the project “Permanent Monitoring and Analysis of military capabilities and defence sector trends”, managed by a Consortium of European think tanks and funded by the European Defence Agency (EDA). The content of the study and the opinions expressed by the authors do not represent the EDA’s official position.

The aim of this second DBC study is two-fold. Firstly, it looks more closely at European defence spending, with a view to ascertaining how much is devoted to investment and procurement across 31 European countries (hereinafter DBC31) in 2016. To do so, it seeks to identify national specificities. Secondly, it analyses relevant developments in defence cooperation across Europe at bilateral, regional and mini-lateral levels, occurred between October 2015 and March 2016. In doing so, it refers to the analytical framework developed by the first DBC study published in January 2016.

In conclusion, this study draws on data collected by the Consortium to outline current trends in European defence spending and cooperation, with a view to underlining opportunities for defence collaboration in Europe…