The EU between Pooling & Sharing and Smart Defence: Making a Virtue of Necessity?

CEPS Special Reports, Forthcoming

29 Pages Posted: 23 May 2012

See all articles by Giovanni Faleg

Giovanni Faleg

Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)

Alessandro Giovannini

European Central Bank (ECB) - Directorate General International and European Relations

Date Written: May 19, 2012

Abstract

The financial crisis has deeply affected European defence budgets and, as a consequence, the EU’s capability to act as a provider of global security. This paper assesses the extent to which pooling & sharing (P&S) of military capabilities is a viable plan to boost collective capacity-building and offset the heavy budget cut-backs, drawing impetus from the NATO ‘smart defence’ agenda. Although multilateral cooperation is proven more efficient than the status quo through the lens of economics, and a set of external stimuli would facilitate deeper military integration, the paper acknowledges that a fully-fledged EU defence market remains difficult to attain due to short-term political and strategic considerations. However, piecemeal progress in specific areas is possible and viable, if political conditions are met. The last section of the paper offers some policy recommendations towards a pragmatic and feasible road map for P&S.

Keywords: financial crisis, crisis, European defence budgets, EU, security, NATO, smart defence, military integration, defence market, pooling & sharing, P&S

Suggested Citation

Faleg, Giovanni and Giovannini, Alessandro, The EU between Pooling & Sharing and Smart Defence: Making a Virtue of Necessity? (May 19, 2012). CEPS Special Reports, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2065198

Giovanni Faleg (Contact Author)

Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) ( email )

1 Place du Congres, 1000
Brussels, 1000
Belgium

Alessandro Giovannini

European Central Bank (ECB) - Directorate General International and European Relations ( email )

Kaiserstrasse 29
D-60311 Frankfurt am Main
Germany

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