To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made on (1) the establishment of the EU Defence Union, (2) the development of European multilateral defence procurement, and (3) the establishment of the EU military planning and conduct capability.
Answered on
18 April 2017
An EU Defence Union concept has been discussed in the European Parliament but is non-binding and has not been raised in the EU Council. At the March European Council, member states agreed to some limited proposals to improve the effectiveness of the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy, including a Military Planning and Conduct Capability (MPCC) to improve oversight and coordination of the three EU non-executive military missions. We have limited the size and scope of the MPCC, ensuring that it is responsible for these non-executive missions only and that its Director will only exercise Operational Control - there is no increase in command authority over and above what already exists.
There are no finalised proposals for multilateral defence procurement, but the European Defence Agency is engaged in projects across the defence spectrum to help deliver the results and capabilities of member states through increased coordination. 'Permanent Structured Cooperation' has been proposed by some as a way of giving further impetus to European capability development but we continue to make clear that the starting point should be for member states to spend more nationally; that military capabilities remain owned by member states; and that any proposals should be considered in light of work underway at NATO.