Europe’s defence sector: Building the foundations of strategic autonomy

This event is part of our European Sovereignty Days series of events at BIG. Discover the full programme here.

European armed forces find themselves ill-equipped for the ‘return of history’ on their eastern flank – atrophied, under-coordinated, and configured for a transatlantic security architecture now in terminal decline. Europe increasingly shoulders the burden of financial and material support for Ukraine alone, yet it nonetheless depends on American defence-industrial capacity to meet its commitments to Kyiv.

The challenge is urgent: Europe needs to re-arm, and quickly. But it must also cultivate the frameworks which will enable it to act with strategic autonomy, from procurement to deployment. On both fronts, there are welcome signs of progress: witness the Readiness2030 plan, or recent proposals for a European Security Council. Yet for the time being, Europe’s leaders have struggled to summon either the resources or the unity of purpose which our present moment demands. What must still be done to ensure we can effectively defend our own territory – and our values?

At the heart of this question lies Europe’s defence-industrial sector: an ecosystem of established global players and rapidly-growing innovators which represent the building blocks of European strategic autonomy. The Brussels Institute for Geopolitics is bringing together voices from across the sector to hear what’s needed now to unlock their potential – and convert political will into home-grown military capacity fit for the threat landscape of an uncertain age.

Contributors

• David Luengo, Director Head of Brussels Office, Indra Group
• Mikael Isaksson, Director of EU Affairs, SAAB
• Claude-France Arnould, BIG’s Senior Fellow for European Defence and former Executive Director of the European Defence Agency, will lead the discussion.

The discussion will be followed by a Q&A and a small drinks reception.