NBB 2026-2, EU militarisation going wild

From dedicated funding programmes to diverting civil funds, from deregulation facilitating the business of arms to wave of security & defence partnerships, EU militarisation is going wild in 2026…

Read our latest newsletter here: NBB 2026-2, 27/03/2026

SUMMARY:

ENAAT news

> Global Days Against Military Spending (GDAMS) Campaign to run from April 10 to May 9

> ‘US fighter jets: backbone of European air forces’ – StopWapenhandel blog

EU support for the arms industry

> Deregulating the arms industry: negotiations and EP calls for single market for defence

> A SAFE 2.0 in the pipeline, Polish veto, French frustration and US lobby

> Competitiveness Fund: EC role contested, transparency & traceability questioned

> AGILE: new instrument to fund individual companies including from Ukraine

> News Briefs

Other aspects of European militarisation

> EU summit conclusions, new security strategy, drone security to include UK

> EU security and defence partnerships going wild across the globe

> Military mobility package progress

> Ukraine to open arms export centres across Europe

> News Briefs

more news

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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