The European Defence Fund will merely benefit the industry and trigger arms race in autonomous weapons, says ENAAT

Today the European Commission released its proposals for the Security and Defence heading under the next EU long-term budget. They confirm an unprecedented funding level for security and military priorites, with a Defence Fund jumping by 2200%. “The European Defence Fund will subsidize private actors for the Research & Development of controversial weaponry, which will then be used or exported according to industrial or strategic national interests”, warns the European Network Against Arms Trade.

Read the ENAAT full press release in English, French, Italian, German

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OSDE 2026

2 June 2026

Major Beneficiaries of EDF and ASAP.     Companies European Defence Fund (EDF) After the first three years of the EDF, about a thousand different entities (companies, research institutes, universities, government agencies and a few CSOs) have received funding. It is clear that a large portion of the money goes to a small set of large arms companies. This is exacerbated by the fact that many of these companies own (parts) of other beneficiaries, in the form of takeovers, joint ventures, subsidiaries or major shareholder ownership. With this in mind, almost a quarter of the funding ends up

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09/06 at 6pm: “Breaking the consensus on EU funding for rearmamament” online conference

21 May 2026

ENAAT, GDAMS & StopReArmEurope invite you to an Interactive Online Conference***A militarised garden: Breaking the consensus on EU funding for rearmament * June 9 2026 at 18:00 CEST The session will begin from a practical observation: Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who challenge the current policy direction -particularly the rapid growth in certain spending priorities- represent a small minority, which limits their influence. Against this backdrop, the discussion will move beyond simple opposition and instead focus on more constructive and strategic exchange, structures around two main pillars:1) Understanding the MEPs’ perspective:Why do many MEPs feel that there

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Civil society calls on policymakers to prevent the weakening of arms exports control

8 May 2026

Today, +25 civil society organisations urge decision makers to prevent arms export control systems from being weakened under the pretext of ‘simplification’ and ‘efficiency’. The negotiations on the EU omnibus package relating to defence are well advanced and about to conclude, including on the proposals modifying the Transfer directive regulating intra-EU arms exports. Weapons and military technology cannot be sold like toys or cans of beans, and EU governments are the ones responsible for ensuring compliance with European and international law, in particular the EU Common position on arms exports, the Arms Trade Treaty and the Convention on

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