2019 I ISSUE #17 EUROPEAN DEFENCE MATTERS years supporting 15 European defence CONTENTS LOOKING BACK AT 15 YEARS > Foreword by Federica Mogherini – Head of the Agency 3 > The Birth of an Agency – How it all began 4 > Flashback by Javier Solana – The first Head of the Agency looks back and ahead 6 > Cooperation pioneers, innovators, facilitators – Joint interview with EDA’s former & current Chief Executives 8 MEMBER STATES’ VIEW > Why EDA is the right intergovernmental platform for joint capability prioritisation, planning & development – by Finnish Defence Minister Antti Kaikkonen 14 EDA’S KEY ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE PAST 15 YEARS > Main architect of EU defence capability priorities 17 > Manager of European Defence Research 20 04 © European Council > The European hub for multinational capability development 23 > The military voice and interface for EU policies 26 > Europe’s training pitch for enhanced interoperability 29 > Guardian of coherence among EU defence cooperation tools 32 INDUSTRY TALK > MBDA’s new CEO Eric Béranger shares his views and analyses 35 NATO VIEW > By former NATO Assistant Secretary General for Defence Policy & Planning, Heinrich Brauss 38 PARTNER MESSAGES > Close partners, strong cooperation – Anniversary reflections by some of EDA’s main partners 40 08 OUTLOOK > Quo Vadis, EDA? – An outlook by Dick Zandee 44 Editor-in-Chief CONTACTS Helmut Brüls Elisabeth Schoeffmann Design Head of Media & Communication Simon Smith Associates Helmut Brüls Printing Media & Communication Officer Drukkerij Hendrix NV European Defence Agency Kiezel Kleine-Brogel 55, B-3990 Peer Rue des Drapiers 17-23 Belgium B-1050 Brussels This document is published by EDA in www.eda.europa.eu the interests of exchange of information Contact: [email protected] Front cover image; ©. Other images; EDA, Catalogue number Shutterstock QU-AC-19-001-EN-N ISSN (2433-5511) EDA is a member of the European Military Press Association © European Defence Agency (EDA) June 2019. All rights reserved. The entire contents of this 35 38 publication are protected by copyright. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a © MBDA © MSC retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of EDA. The reproduction of advertisements in this publication does not in any way imply endorsement of their content by EDA. The views We hope this magazine will provide valuable food for thought expressed in the articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policy of EDA. and information about EDA’s work. Should you have comments or recommendations, please get in touch: [email protected] 2 www.eda.europa.eu SPECIAL EDITION: WELCOME EDA 15th Anniversary Foreword by Federica Mogherini, © EEAS Head of the Agency It has been an honour for me to lead the European with the European External Action Service and the Defence Agency in these five years, and up until EU Military Staff. It is also a central operator for its fifteenth birthday. I remember very well my first EU-funded defence activities. The Agency is today in visit to the EDA headquarters. Together with the EDA a unique position to contribute to coherence among leadership and staff, we realised that we shared the the various initiatives, efficiency and a steady focus same goal: to make European cooperation the norm on our capability priorities. – not the exception – on defence matters too. Five years ago, few people imagined how far we would This is why we have worked to strengthen the come. In these years European defence cooperation Agency so that it can be up for the new task. has expanded like never before. And the Agency has The Long Term Review that we initiated led to a been at the core of our work and of all the progress threefold reinforcement of EDA, which was approved we have achieved together. by Defence Ministers in May 2017: the Agency is now recognised as the main intergovernmental When we worked on our Global Strategy for instrument to identify shared priorities at EU foreign and security policy, presented in 2016, we level on defence capability development; it is the called on Member States to make “full use” of the preferred management support structure at EU Agency’s potential. The Strategy set a new level of level for collaborative technology and capability ambition for European cooperation on defence and development; and it is the military interface and acknowledged EDA’s “key role” in developing better central operator for EU-funded defence-related and more interoperable capabilities together. What activities. It will be essential to ensure that EDA happened in the following months and years was always has the means to fulfil such crucial tasks. unprecedented. A range of new initiatives were launched to boost defence cooperation through joint All the progress achieved has only been possible planning among Member States, joint research and because of a strong political will to move forward. development, joint training and action. We harnessed All relevant actors have played their part towards the untapped potential of the Lisbon Treaty, and set a shared goal – from Member States to the up a Permanent Structured Cooperation on defence European Commission and Parliament, in close among Member States (PESCO). We launched a cooperation with the EU Military Committee, the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD). And EEAS, the EU Military Staff and EDA. The same for the first time, the European Commission created strong determination will be necessary in the years a European Defence Fund (EDF) to incentivise ahead. The choice of “making cooperation the norm” cooperative projects on defence. will have to be confirmed day-by-day with more concrete action. EDA made essential contributions to crafting these initiatives all along the way, and now plays a The Europe of Defence is taking shape. To get there, central role in their implementation. The Agency is the unique expert role of EDA will be even more the secretariat for both CARD and PESCO, together needed in the future than today. EUROPEAN DEFENCE MATTERS I 2019 I Issue #17 3 Flashback 2001-2004 The birth of an Agency Building on previous efforts by the Western European Union (WEU) to boost armaments cooperation, the idea of creating a European agency for defence capability development, research, acquisition and armaments gained decisive traction when, in 2002, it was taken up by the ‘Convention on the Future of Europe’ whose mission was to reflect on the future of Europe and prepare a draft Constitutional Treaty for the EU. Established by EU leaders and chaired by Agency would incorporate, with a European busy preparing the European Council that former French President Giscard d’Estaing, label, closer forms of cooperation which would take place in Thessaloniki in June the Convention set in motion a process already exist in the armaments field 2003. In its final conclusions, this Summit that led to today’s European Defence between certain Member States (OCCAR, confirmed that a new European Defence Agency (EDA), starting with the decision LoI). The Agency should also be tasked Agency was on the agenda and would soon in September 2002 to set up a dedicated with strengthening the industrial and become a reality. “The European Council Working Group on Defence. Chaired by Michel technological base of the defence sector. [...] tasks the appropriate bodies of the Barnier, the group had to investigate “the It should also incorporate the appropriate Council to undertake the necessary actions possibility of setting up an arms agency elements of the cooperation that most towards creating, in the course of 2004, whose tasks (research, development, Member States undertake within the WEAG.” an intergovernmental agency in the field of acquisitions) and operating methods defence capabilities development, research, would have to be studied in detail”, The working group laid out a few ideas acquisition and armaments”, the final acknowledging that “there [is] in fact regarding the way this future Agency could declaration stated. currently no cooperation on armaments at interact with its stakeholders. “All Member Union level”. The idea of a new Agency proved States which so wished could participate The overall objective of the new body was a consensus builder. In its final report, the in the Agency, the composition of which briefly explained: “This Agency, which will group laid out some of the foundations of would not be linked to other, limited forms what would become the EDA we know today, of defence cooperation”, the final report although the final name wasn’t there yet. explained. “Certain Member States could constitute specific groups based on a “The setting up on an intergovernmental commitment to carry out specific projects”, basis of a European Armaments and which could also “be opened up on an ad hoc Strategic Research Agency was supported basis to countries which are not members of by many in the Group”, the report stated. “The the European Union”. Agency’s initial tasks would be to ensure the fulfillment of operational requirements Thessaloniki EU Summit by promoting a policy of harmonised The Convention finished its work in July procurement by the Member States, and to 2003 with the publication of a Draft Treaty © European Commission support research into defence technology, establishing a Constitution for Europe. Michel Barnier, chairman of the Convention’s including military space systems. The Meanwhile, Member States were also Working Group on Defence 4 www.eda.europa.eu EDA ANNIVERSARY: BEGINNING © European Council The decision to create EDA was taken at the Thessaloniki European Council in June 2003 be subject to the Council’s authority and which different people projected different because anything more specific could have open to participation by all Member States, aspirations. By November 2003 it was clear been seen as trying to push the Agency one will aim at developing defence capabilities that the only way out was to establish a way or another.