Strengthening EU’s help for defence funding
Parliament is preparing to approve a set of new measures to strengthen Europe’s defence technological and industrial base (EDTIB) by directing more EU funding towards defence. As part of the ReArm Europe plan, MEPs will debate and vote on a legislation that reallocates EU funding towards defence-related investment. This comes after an informal deal was reached between Parliament and Council negotiators on 5 November 2025.
The objective is to increase funding for defence-related investment by amending existing EU programmes such us the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP), Horizon Europe, the European Defence Fund (EDF), the Digital Europe programme (DEP) and the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) – to allow EU funding to be channelled towards defence.
The European Commission’s proposal, presented on 22 April 2025, aims to boost defence-related investment within the EU budget as part of the ReArm Europe plan. In response to escalating geopolitical threats initiative in response to escalating geopolitical threats. The law seeks to strengthen the European defence technological and industrial base (EDTIB) with funding drawn from existing budgets. The plan followed the joint white paper “European defence – Readiness 2030”, about enhancing the EU’s strategic autonomy and competitiveness in defence.
