The Increase in Defence Spending, the Role of the NSPA and the European Strategic Autonomy

Rightly or wrongly, the European Union’s defence policy has long been perceived as a duplication of NATO’s role and competences. However, since the EU embarked on developing a genuine defence industrial policy, the dynamic has reversed: NATO has in turn begun to sketch out an industrial policy of its own, at times giving the impression that it is now seeking to duplicate the Union.

This note seeks to address that question, focusing on the role that the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) may play in this context. The note raises therefore two questions. What impact does the use of the NSPA have on the EU’s ambition to strengthen European strategic autonomy and the EDTIB? And with the increase of EU member states defence budgets as a result of the war in Ukraine, how could this impact evolve?