Defence Industrial Cooperation in the European Union: The State, the Firm and Europe

Description

This book provides an empirical understanding of how EU-level defence industrial cooperation functions in practice. Using the Liberal Intergovernmental theoretical model, the book argues that while national economic preferences are an essential factor of government interests they only explain part of the dynamic that leads to the development of defence industrial policy at EU level. Moving beyond a simple adumbration of economic preferences, it shows how the EU’s institutional framework and corpus of law are used by governments to reaffirm their position as the ultimate arbiter and promoter of national economic preferences in the defence industrial sector. To this end, the work asks why and how EU member state governments, European defence firms, and EU institutions developed EU-level defence industrial policy between 2003 and 2009. The book also analyses significant policy developments, including the establishment of a European Defence Agency and two EU Directives on equipment transfers and defence procurement. This book will be of much interest to students of EU policy, defence studies, security studies and International Relations in general. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction The challenge of cooperation Why cooperate? Conflict and cooperation in defence Why Europe? Book structure Notes Chapter 1: Surveying EU defence industrial policy Law and regulation Article 346 EU competition law State aid The EU’s merger regulation The EU’s ‘defence package’ Dual-use controls Capability development Finance Policy initiatives Concluding observations Notes Chapter 2: Theorising EU defence industrial cooperation Structuralist approaches Institutionalist approaches Ideational approaches Liberal intergovernmentalism ‘Step one’ – domestic preference formation ‘Step two’ – intergovernmental bargaining ‘Step three’ – outcomes Concluding observations Chapter 3: Establishing the European Defence Agency A European Defence Agency: what did governments and firms want? An agency for military capability development Military capabilities yes, but industrial matters too Mixed preferences and misgivings A bargain and an agency Europeanisation as a bargaining tool Ambiguity of aims and the ‘power of the purse’ Concluding observations Notes Chapter 4: Adopting the defence transfers directive Defence transfers, governments and firms Responding to the economic crisis Balancing economic gain and sovereignty Bargaining power and the transfers directive A directive ‘made in France’? Reform and opportunity Concluding observations Notes Chapter 5: Adopting the defence procurement directive The need for a defence procurement directive To liberalise and standardise defence procurement The resistance against EU legislation on defence procurement Bargaining for a defence procurement directive ‘Buying European’ and non-agreement Non-agreement, exclusion and defence offsets Security of supply and non-agreement Compromise and the negotiated procedure Concluding observations Notes Conclusion EU defence industrial cooperation: why …? EU defence industrial cooperation: how …? Theoretical implications Policy implications The dawning of new forms of cooperation? A ‘game changer’? Note Bibliography Index