ENAAT Newsletter 2024-03: “Bullets not bees”

Our latest News from the Brussels’ Bubble is now out: ENAAT NBB 2024-03_31.05.2024

SUMMARY

EU funding for the arms industry

– Negotiations for new EU defence industry programme likely to face delay
– EU defence Fund: results of 2023 calls
– EDF: naval & space technology dominate, 2024 calls shift towards conventional warfare
– EIB revise rules to ramp-up defence investment, Nordic bank to follow suit?
– Ukraine: European and Ukrainian arms industry met in Brussels to boost cooperation
– EU Defence Agency mandate expanded to joint procurement and military interests in all policy-making

Other aspects of EU militarisation

– Leaked EU strategic agenda: “bullets not bees” says Politico
– Letta report calls for common defence market and “innovative finance”
– European Defence Industry Summit: arms lobbyists and EU leaders are best buddies
– EU conclusions on security and defence and EU-Norway defence partnership
– Schuman Security and Defence Forum

Peace facility and related news

– EU Rapid Deployment Capacity & MILEX 2024
– EPF and Ukraine: ‘technical’ and Hungarian blockages

more news

OSDE 2026

2 June 2026

Who profits from EU subsidies for the arms industry? Find out below which countries and companies benefit the most from the EU Defence Fund (EDF) and the Ammunition fund (ASAP), and where they export. More information and detailed data are available in the public platform Open Security Data Europe 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.

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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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