The acting Executive Director of the European Defence Agency (EDA), Olli Ruutu, said in the organisation’s 2019 activity report, published on 23 March, that 2019 had been an “important and memorable” year for the agency, which celebrated its 15th anniversary.
The EDA has made a number of adjustments, in particular with the renaming and restructuring of three operational directorates: the Industry, Synergies and Enablers Directorate (ISE), the Capabilities, Armaments and Planning Directorate (CAP), and the Research, Technology and Innovation Directorate (RTI). They have already, according to Mr Ruutu, helped to improve the EDA’s service to Member States, for example with the creation of a dedicated PESCO unit.
At the same time, the Agency’s activities have expanded, explains the Acting Executive Director, who points out that the EDA now functions as the platform for reviewing and consolidating the EU’s capability development priorities, as the secretariat for the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD) and Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) with the European External Action Service (EEAS), and supports the European Defence Fund (EDF) precursor programmes. The launch of the first full CARD cycle took place in 2019.
A significant part of the Agency’s work has been devoted to the development of Strategic Context Cases (SCC) that will inform and guide the implementation of the 11 EU capacity development priorities. The EDA has also ensured that the activities developed by Member States within NATO are properly reflected in these SCCs.
The report highlights EDA support and expertise at different levels in the implementation of Permanent Structured Cooperation. In particular, it provides specific support to five projects.
At the same time, the Agency continued to support Member States in strengthening their defence capabilities. At the end of 2019, 30 new research and technology (R&T) projects were under negotiation in addition to the Agency’s 42 ad hoc R&T projects. At the end of 2019, the Agency was managing 113 ad hoc R&T and capability programmes and projects and over 200 other activities related to capability development, research and technology and the defence industry.
According to Mr Ruutu, significant progress has also been made on new tools and incentives for defence cooperation. The first Member States and the European Investment Bank signed in 2019 the programme agreement on the Cooperative Financial Mechanism (CFM), which is intended to enable the EDA Member States to provide financial support for the design and development of military technologies.
Finally, progress was made on military mobility: the Agency’s first annual report was presented to the Steering Board and 25 Member States joined the new programme on cross-border movement authorisations.
See the report: https://bit.ly/3bkBByc (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)