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

The competitiveness trap: How EU ‘simplification’ fuels a global arms race

3 March 2026

This piece was first published as an Opinion article on EUobserver, ‘How the EU is deregulating arms-control to be like any other industry‘ For most citizens, terms like “simplification” and “harmonisation” sound positive. However, within the Brussels’ EU “bubble,” they are used as a Trojan horse for massive deregulation. Specifically, a new legislative package—the Defence Readiness Omnibus—threatens to overhaul how weapons are produced and sold, creating a dangerous precedent for global security. As “Trilogue” negotiations begin under the Cyprus EU Presidency, the stakes could not be higher. Under the guise of “completing the internal market” for defence and

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

22 January 2026

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:

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

20 January 2026

  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

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