Report from ENAAT with Centre Delàs: “From war lobby to war economy. How the arms industry shapes European policies”

In October 2017 the Belgian NGO Vredesactie published the report ‘Securing Profits: How the arms lobby is hijacking Europe’s defence policy’. It showed the high degree of influence the arms industry – in particular a group of large companies – had in shaping the EU’s unfolding military policies, with a focus on its role in the establishment of the European Defence Fund and its precursor programmes. Since then, the militarisation of the European Union has intensified, leading to increased financial and political support for the armament sector in two main areas of particular interest for this industry: first, the search for more money – not only public funding but also access to private and sustainable finance, and to long term commitments and investments; second, the wish to be closely involved in policy-making, strategic and operational processes and debates. The EU has embraced the arms lobby demands not only with dedicated funds for weaponry, but also by facilitating, and in some cases even privileging, access to a wide range of civilian funds, thus marking new stages in the militarisation of the EU.

This process therefore began well before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with the latter serving above all as an a posteriori justification and accelerating factor, leading not only to increased political attention but also to the adoption of new subsidies for the arms industry not provided for in the EU long term budget for 2021-2027.

This new report picks up where the report from Vredesactie ended, looking at what has happened in the six years since then.

Authors: Mark Akkerman and Chloé Meulewaeter

Read and download the full report in English, in Spanish and in Catalan.