The EDA and Defence Offsets : Trailing after the Commission

This chapter discusses the efforts of the European Defence Agency (EDA) to decrease the fragmentation of the European Defence Technological and Industrial base by coordinating offset practices of its member states. It first looks at the increasing use of offsets after the end of the Cold War. Second, it discusses the activities of the I&M Directorate of the EDA that led to the adoption of the Code of Conduct on Offsets by almost all member states and increased the transparency of offset practices in Europe. The third section discusses the introduction of the Defence Procurement Directive by the European Commission (EC), and the EDA's role as a catalyst in the change process that followed. While the EDA was able to increase awareness of offsets' effects on a common defence industrial base, implementation of the Defence Procurement Directive greatly marginalised these efforts. The current situation, which will eventually forbid the use of indirect civil offsets, provides an opportunity for the EDA to better coordinate still-existing defence offsets of member states in the future. But, the EDA has to define for itself a new and preferably stronger position on offsets, one that is not as driven by decisions made within the EC.