The European Network Against Arms Trade is campaigning against EU militarisation since 2016, and in particular against using EU taxpayers’ money to subsidize the arms industry.

In 2017, the EU Community budget was used for the first time to directly finance activities in the military field for the research and development of new weaponry, including disruptive technologies that “will radically change the way to conduct war”.

What began with pilot R&D programmes costing 500 million euros, paving the way to the European Defence Fund, now extends to the production and joint procurement of weapons and is worth over ten billion, a budget expected to significantly rise again in 2027. These subsidies are designed to boost the global competitiveness of European arms companies, particularly in relation to its US competitors, including by facilitating exports. This is exacerbating the global arms race which in turn fuels conflicts.

Military spending at EU level has increased exponentially in recent years, and is set to continue to rise significantly in addition to the sharp rise in national spending. This diverts political attention and financial resources from tackling the root causes of instability such as climate change, and from the peaceful prevention and resolution of conflicts.

European leaders want to turn the EU into an additional global military power, capable of ‘deployment’, in other words of carrying out military interventions in line with geostrategic interests. This is in sharp contradiction with the EU founding fathers’ original vision of a peace project.