44 non-profit organisations across Europe alert on 4 major risks the European Defence Fund entails

Our EU leaders are currently discussing the next EU budgetary cycle that will run from 2021 to 2027. Among the proposals, one has so far caught little attention from the public and has been barely analysed in the EU media, let alone at national level.

Yet the recently set-up European Defence Fund would deserve a wider and critical public debate, with its €13 billion draft budget for a new area of work, the Research & Development of new weapons and military technology. With this statement, the signing organisations intend to raise awareness among citizens and the press about this development, and alert them to the major risks the current proposal entails.

Read the Statement in EnglishCzechDutch, French, Spanish, Swedish, Catalan

more news

NBB 2026-1: Quiz, which of the EU institutions is the most arms-industry friendly?

From EP’s early Christmas gifts to EC outbids to counter EDA’s revival, one wonders which of the EU institutions is the most arms industry-friendly…Read our latest newsletter here: NBB 2026-1, 16/01/26 SUMMARY ENAAT news > “Europe’s Hidden Hands: Funding and Arming the Genocide in Gaza” (Webinar series 26/01 & 02/02) > Stop Wapenhandel Blog: Weakening arms transfers rules in the name of ‘security’ and ‘competitiveness’ > Increasing concerns about civil society watchdog role at EU level > Citizens’ initiative asking the EC to suspend the EU-Israel association agreement EU support for the arms industry > EDIP & SAFE:

Read more >

Europe’s Hidden Hands: Funding and Arming the Genocide in Gaza

  Two online webinars to explore the European complicity with the Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Monday 26/01, 6pm CET Monday 02/02, 6pm CET     Register here Programme Monday 26/01, 6pm CET “EU & European complicity through military cooperation and dependency”,  This session confronts Europe’s direct role in enabling Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its decades-long military occupation of Palestine. Far from being champions of diplomacy and peace, European countries and the EU continue arms trade, military cooperation, and political cover for Israel, even as mass atrocities unfold and international law is systematically violated. We will examine how

Read more >

Weakening arms trade rules for the sake of arms dealers

As part of the “Defence Readiness Omnibus’ presented in June 2025, i.e. a deregulation package for the armament sector, the European Commission is proposing to “simplify” the EU directive for arms exports inside the EU, in short the ‘Transfers directive’. A first revision of this directive had been conducted in 2016, already problematic in several respects as we warned at the time. The current revision represents a further step towards the deregulation of arms transfers, with potentially significant impacts on the control of exports outside the EU. Read our Policy Briefing Note for more information on the dangerous

Read more >