European Defence Agency

The council established the EDA "to support the Member States and the Council in their effort to improve European defence capabilities in the field of crisis management and to sustain the European Security and Defence Policy as it stands now and develops in the future". Within that overall mission are three functions;{{Cite web |url=http://www.eda.europa.eu/genericitem.aspx?area=Background&id=122 |title=EDA : Background : Background |access-date=3 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613071057/http://www.eda.europa.eu/genericitem.aspx?area=Background&id=122 |archive-date=13 June 2007 |url-status=dead }}

• supporting the development of defence capabilities and military cooperation among the European Union Member States;
• stimulating defence Research and Technology (R&T) and strengthening the European defence industry;
• acting as a military interface to EU policies.

EDA acts as a catalyst, promotes collaborations, launches new initiatives and introduces solutions to improve defence capabilities. It is the place where Member States willing to develop capabilities in cooperation do so. It is also a key facilitator in developing the capabilities necessary to underpin the Common Security and Defence Policy of the Union.

[https://eda.europa.eu/who-we-are/organigram Current organigramme is available here]

The Agency is monitored and managed in three ways.{{Cite web |url=http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/r00002.htm |title=SCADPlus: European Defence Agency |access-date=3 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061020130416/http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/r00002.htm |archive-date=20 October 2006 |url-status=dead }}

The EU HR/VP, currently Kaja Kallas, acts as the Head of the EDA. The Head is responsible for the overall organisation and functioning, ensuring the implementation of guidelines and decisions and chairing ministerial meetings of the Steering Board. Javier Solana was the inaugural head of the EDA, a position which he held from 2004 to 2009.

EDA's Steering Board is the agency's decision-making body. The Steering Board is composed of the defence ministers of participating Member States together with a representative of the European Commission and is led by the Head of the Agency. The Steering Board is responsible for projects such as the proposed pan-European Future Transport Helicopter.{{Cite news|url=https://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/international/ruestung-eu-beschliesst-bau-von-helikopter/3180012.html|title=Rüstung: EU beschließt Bau von Helikopter|access-date=2018-01-23|language=de}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.eda.europa.eu/info-hub/press-centre/latest-news/09-05-18/EDA_and_Commission_to_work_closely_together_on_research|title=EDA and Commission to work closely together on research|website=Eda.europa.eu|language=en|access-date=2018-01-23}}

The Chief Executive (CE, appointed by the HR/VP, is the agency's head of staff, responsible for the supervision and daily management of the agency.

As of 16 May 2025, Major General André Denk serves as Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency (EDA), becoming the first high-ranking military officer to lead the Agency since its creation in 2004.{{cite web|access-date=2025-06-01 |date=5 May 2025 |language=en |title=EU Member States appoint André Denk as new EDA Chief Executive |url=https://eda.europa.eu/news-and-events/news/2025/05/05/eu-member-states-appoint-andr%C3%A9-denk-as-new-eda-chief-executive |website=eda.europa.eu}}

Before taking up the post, Denk served as EDA’s Deputy Chief Executive from February 2023, where he led initiatives on joint procurement of 155mm ammunition to support Ukraine.{{cite web|access-date=2025-06-01 |date=2025 |language=en |title=Major General André Denk – Chief Executive, European Defence Agency (biography) |url=https://eda.europa.eu/docs/default-source/biographies/eda-ce-andr%C3%A9-denk.pdf |website=eda.europa.eu}} His military career includes senior roles such as Director of Logistics at the EU Military Staff and Commander of the Bundeswehr Logistics School, alongside deployments under EU, UN, and NATO mandates in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Afghanistan, and Mali.{{cite web|access-date=2025-06-01 |language=en |title=EDA Chief Executive: Organigram |url=https://eda.europa.eu/who-we-are/organigram/chief-executive |website=eda.europa.eu}}

He succeeded Jiří Šedivý, EDA’s Chief Executive from 2020 to 2025.{{cite web|access-date=2025-06-01 |date=5 March 2020 |title=Jiří Šedivý appointed as new EDA Chief Executive |url=https://eda.europa.eu/news-and-events/news/2020/03/05/ji%c5%99%c3%ad-%c5%a1ediv%c3%bd-appointed-as-new-eda-chief-executive |website=eda.europa.eu}} Šedivý, a former Czech Defence Minister, was appointed on the recommendation of Josep Borrell, Head of the Agency.

Since 2019 the agency has been reorganised into four directorates.

The Industry Synergies & Enablers Directorate supports a range of activities critical to collaborative defence capability development in Europe. On top of leading the work on identifying, together with Member States, Key Strategic Activities (KSA) at EU level, the ISE Directorate is responsible for the effective engagement with industry across the agency's activities and in support of related priorities set by Member States.

The ISE Directorate facilitates work to address the implications of EU legislation and policies for the defence sector: REACH, procurement, funding instruments and the analysis of developments influencing governmental and industrial stakeholders.

The Capability, Armament & Planning Directorate supports the coherent development of the European defence landscape by integrating EDA's involvement in the Capability Development Plan (CDP), the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD) and the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO). The Directorate also identifies, plans and proposes collaborative opportunities in support of EU capability development priorities and tailored to Member States' needs, representing a coherent approach from priority setting to impact.

The Directorate is in charge of preparing the Capability Development Plan, based on the analysis of military requirements conducted together with Member States. It also identifies output- oriented EU capability development priorities and coordinates the development of Strategic Context Cases to facilitate the implementation of these priorities.

The Research, Technology & Innovation Directorate promotes and supports defence research at EU level. Based on the Overarching Strategic Research Agenda (OSRA), developed together with the Member States, the Directorate coordinates and plans joint research activities and the study of technical solutions to meet future operational needs.

The RTI Directorate provides support to Member States and to the European Commission for the Preparatory Action for defence research, including its implementation, and the research dimension of the European Defence Fund. The Directorate also ensures the promotion of innovation in defence and the exploitation of synergies at EU level with civil research in dual-use technology fields.

The Corporate Services Directorate provides business and administrative support to EDA and includes units such as human resources, finance, IT, security, and infrastructure management, and the legal office.

The agency is financed by its members in proportion to their Gross National Income. An effect of this is that some nations pay different contributions towards the budgets than others.

EDA's budget consists of the general budget, the budgets associated with ad hoc projects or programmes and budgets resulting from additional revenue for a total budget of €151.847 million in 2022.

This budget covers the Agency's operating costs. Individual projects are funded separately.

In its draft budget for the period 2021–2027, the European Commission allocated €27.5 billion for defence and security.{{cite web|url=http://conservativeeurope.com/news/eu-defence-spending-about-integration-not-military-capability|title=EU defence spending about integration, not military capability – Conservative MEPs|website=Conservativeeurope.com|access-date=6 February 2019}}

{{Further|History of the Common Security and Defence Policy}}

File:Emblem of the Western European Armaments Group.svg

The European Defence Agency is part of several decades of steadily more formal defence cooperation in Europe. Its work is a continuation of the work of the Western European Armaments Organization (WEAO) and the Western European Armaments Group (WEAG) – it effectively represents the transference of their functions from the WEU to the EU framework, and thus continues the decommissioning of the WEU.

Established by the European Council in December 2001 following the Laeken Declaration, the European Convention (also known as the Convention on the Future of Europe) was a body intended to include the main EU “stakeholders” in a major brainstorming exercise about the future direction of the European Union. Its final purpose was to produce a draft constitution for the EU to finalise and adopt. This period saw a renewed impetus for the creation of a European Defence Agency.

In its final report, the Convention working group on Defence laid out some of the foundations of what would become the European Defence Agency we know today - although the final name wasn’t there yet. “The setting up on an intergovernmental basis of a European Armaments and Strategic Research Agency was supported by many in the Group”, the official document stated. “The Agency’s initial tasks would be to ensure the fulfilment of operational requirements by promoting a policy of harmonised procurement by the Member States and to support research into defence technology, including military space systems.

A year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the EDA set up a project for the Common Procurement of Ammunition, looking at 155mm artillery rounds and a longer term project looking at multiple ammunition types, to support Ukraine and to replenish national stocks. By March 2023, 25 countries had joined the project.{{cite web |title=Collaborative procurement of ammunition |url=https://eda.europa.eu/news-and-events/news/2023/03/20/eda-brings-together-18-countries-for-common-procurement-of-ammunition |date=20 March 2023}} The EDA also signed an agreement in April 2023 with the United States Department of Defense designed to provide a framework for transatlantic cooperation on shared defence issues, including supply chains.{{cite web |title=DoD and European Defence Agency sign cooperation pact in support of shared military interests |url=https://breakingdefense.com/2023/04/dod-and-european-defence-agency-sign-cooperation-pact-in-support-of-shared-military-interests/ |date=28 April 2023}}

{{See also|Accession of Serbia to the European Union|Switzerland–European Union relations|Norway–European Union relations|European Union–Ukraine relations}}

File:European Defence Agency - EDA map (2).svg

The Agency signed Administrative Arrangements with Norway (2006),{{cite web|url=https://www.norway.no/en/missions/eu/|title=Norway and the EU|website=Norway.no|access-date=6 February 2019}} Switzerland (2012), Serbia (2013), Ukraine (2015) and the United States (2023) enabling them to participate in EDA's projects and programmes without exercising voting rights. All Administrative Arrangements are approved by the European Council. The Head of the Agency is responsible for negotiating these arrangements in accordance with directives given by the EDA Steering Board.{{cite web|url=https://www.eda.europa.eu/Aboutus/who-we-are/member-states|title=Member States|website=Eda.europa.eu|access-date=6 February 2019}}

The departure of the United Kingdom from the EU in 2020 (Brexit) saw no mention in the EU/UK agreements of the EDA working with the UK. The UK is one of the top five defence spenders in the world and its departure meant that only France, alone in the EU, can conduct full-spectrum military operations abroad.{{cite web |title="The EU's Prospects for International Influence Post-Brexit: What Next for European Defence Integration?", Anna Sophie Kirchmayr |work=TEPSA - Trans European Policy Studies Association |url=https://www.tepsa.eu/the-eus-prospects-for-international-influence-post-brexit-what-next-for-european-defence-integration-anna-sophie-kirchmayr/ |date=19 August 2022}} The UK still maintains a treaty with France for a Combined Joint Expeditionary Force whether acting bilaterally or through NATO, the EU, or other coalition arrangements. On 6 October 2022, the UK joined the military mobility project within the EU’s Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) framework.{{cite web |title=UK-France Defence Co-operation Treaty announced |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-france-defence-co-operation-treaty-announced--2 |date=2 November 2010}}

{{Portal|European Union}}

• High Representative
• European Council
• Foreign Affairs Council

• Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space
• European External Action Service
• European Union Intelligence and Situation Centre
• European Security and Defence College
• Permanent Structured Cooperation
• Committee of Permanent Representatives
• Political and Security Committee
• Politico-Military Group
• Military Committee
• Committee for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management

• European Union Institute for Security Studies
• European Union Satellite Centre

• Franco-British Defence and Security Cooperation Treaty and Downing Street Declaration
• NATO Science and Technology Organization
• Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR)

• List of countries in Europe by military expenditures

{{Reflist}}

{{commons category}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070701120542/http://www.eda.europa.eu/ European Defence Agency] Official website (eda.europa.eu)
• [http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2004/l_245/l_24520040717en00170028.pdf/ Council Joint Action 2004/551/CFSP of 12 July 2004 on the establishment of the European Defence Agency] Official website (eur-lex.europa.eu)
• [https://eeas.europa.eu/topics/crisis-response/5392/csdp-structure-instruments-and-agencies_en CSDP structure, instruments, and agencies], EEAS website
• [http://www.iss.europa.eu/chaillot/wp2004.pdf European Defence White Paper] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070805233416/http://www.iss.europa.eu/chaillot/wp2004.pdf |date=5 August 2007 }} EU ISS Document
• [http://www.europeandefenceconcept.eu A proposed CSDP evolution in the Eurocorps and ESDI in NATO]

{{Common Security and Defence Policy}}

{{Agencies of the European Union|state=uncollapsed}}

{{Defence Materiel Procurement Agencies}}

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Defence Agency

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Category:International military organizations

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Category:Government agencies established in 2004

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