The EU’s Security of Supply Agenda

As part of the call for a “sustainable, innovative and competitive” European defence industry, the 2016 EU Global Strategy refers to the need for European ‘security of supply’ in the defence sector – the guarantee that national defence planners will have access to equipment in peace time and during crises, no matter in which member-state their suppliers are located. This year’s ‘Defence Action Plan’, which should also include a security of supply ‘roadmap’, could give renewed impetus to the security of supply agenda.

Planning for EU-wide rather than national security of supply makes sense. Yes, national production of defence equipment reduces the risk that supplies can be disrupted in times of crisis; a national defence industrial base that produces innovative technologies and skills can in itself be a military advantage; and for some extremely sensitive purchases it can be in a country’s essential security interest not to contract with a defence company based in another country. But the concept of national security of supply has become a way for member-states to sustain uncompetitive defence industries as state-subsidised job creation schemes in a relatively high-skilled industrial sector…