Report 70 from Centre Delàs and ENAAT: The European Defence Fund. The opaque use of public funds

The first EDF work programme was launched in 2021. The Call was published during the last quarter of that year, and on 25 January 2023 the list of approved projects was published. Of the 142 projects submitted, 60 were selected. The budget allocated to them amounts to 1,166 million euros, including 322 million for military research projects and 845 million for military development projects. The five main beneficiaries of the 2021 call (Leonardo, Thales, Airbus, Saab and Indra) are receiving over 30% of the funding. The companies who lobbied the hardest for the establishment of the EDF and that had previously influenced the conclusions of the Group of Personalities, clearly profit from a fund that was founded on their advisory report.

In this report, the Center Delàs d’Estudis per la Pau and the European Network Against Arms Trade (ENAAT) highlight the opacity of the projects benefiting from the first round of financing of the European Defense Fund. This research discuss transparency issues during the Mid-Term review of the EDF projects funded under the 2021 Call of the European Comission (EC), focusing on a representative sample of 6 projects. The investigation shows that the problematic aspects already detected in the initial PADR and EDIDP calls have not improved, being as questionable and controversial as in their day, and even with a tendency to worsen. Some of the problems identified are: lack of transparency in the application of EU ethical guidelines; lack of transparency in the project review process; lack of transparency in technical aspects that can generate situations that are ethically unacceptable and contrary to international law; or lack of control in the use of unmanned systems that use AI technologies.

Author: Pere Brunet

Read and download the executive summary in English and in Spanish, and the complete report in English and in Spanish.