EU defence may focus on cooperation, not integration

Significance

The debate around European defence integration has surfaced periodically over past decades, but progress has fallen short of expectations. Brexit and the elections of Presidents Emmanuel Macron in France and Donald Trump in the United States have given fresh impetus to attempts to strengthen EU cooperation.

Impacts

• Countries such as Italy and Poland will press the EU to devote more resources to their specific security-related challenges.
• For now, Brexit appears unlikely to affect the strong UK-French industrial arrangements in the defence sector.
• Defence cooperation will proceed primarily through further research and development cooperation.