Spain’s Perception of the EU Defence Industrial “Toolbox”

Over time, the European Union (EU) could gradually become a major player in the EDTIB, the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base. In recent years, it has developed several initiatives to support defence industrial cooperation between Member States and their defence companies. For European capitals, this represents a major paradigm shift. How do they see this new role that the EU, and the Commission in particular, are in the process of acquiring? What is their perception of the EU’s toolbox for supporting the EDTIB?

To answer these questions, the Ares Group has decided to launch a series of seven papers (comments) on as many European countries. In this paper, Félix Arteaga examines how Spain integrates EU instruments into national decision-making, as well as what are the complementarity between national and EU defence industrial policies. The paper shows that Spain wants its strategic autonomy to be compatible with that of the EU, but not subordinate to it. Concerning the EDIP, Madrid believes that such an instrument should be included in a spectrum of cooperation that extends to procurement, service support, preparation and production in emergency and crisis situations. Spain is ready to work with the Commission to achieve these objectives, provided that its national sovereignty is not compromised and that the goals set out in the Defence Industrial Strategy 2023 are pursued…