Russia’s War Against Ukraine: A New Impetus for the Harmonisation of European Arms Export Policies? A Trilateral Perspective from France, Germany, and Sweden

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 confronted European arms export policies with a unique crisis. This policy paper compares the arms export policies and export control rules of Germany, France, and Sweden, and examines their objectives, how the war in Ukraine has affected their perception of arms exports, and how changes to their arms export policies could impact European harmonisation of export controls. The paper finds that the war in Ukraine had the most direct impact on arms export policies in Germany and Sweden, but not in France. Regarding the future EU harmonisation of export policies, while Germany appears to be the most interested in pursuing this effort, Sweden is reluctant to do so. France’s approach to harmonisation at the bilateral-minilateral level could be a middle-ground. However, it would not necessarily solve longer-term issues such as the extensive use of the European Peace Facility for arms transfers or exports of EU-funded joint projects…