More Europe in Defence? An Analysis of the Recent EU Defence Policy Developments Within the Broader Context of European Integration

The thesis uncovers the causal mechanisms leading to the European Union’s (EU) policy initiatives in defence from 2021 to 2025. Through process-tracing of negotiations and analysis of media, legal sources and official documents, it systematically describes the processes leading to three unprecedented policies in this area (EDF, EDIRPA, ASAP). Drawing from the “core state powers literature”, the thesis addresses European integration by identifying actors on the demand and the supply side. National governments, market actors and voters articulate the demand for EU intervention in defence policy. Supranational institutions (such as the European Commission, or the Court of Justice of the European Union) can “supply” integration by proposing European solutions or steering EU intervention. Further, the member states themselves can be suppliers of European integration in defence, when, for example, they embark on EU-level collaborative projects. The thesis argues that the EU has come to play an expanded role in defence and to significantly affect national defence policies. Here, defence policy encompasses not only the way in which an actor deploys military force, but also the development and financing of defence capabilities. The findings point to an increased EU role in financing capabilities and in promoting interoperability among member states. Nevertheless, the thesis shows how, through the negotiations, the member states have excluded EU ownership of military capabilities and limited the Union’s role in capability planning. This supports the theoretical expectations of New Intergovernmentalism, which has observed a pattern of integration without supranationalisation in the post-Maastricht EU.