Summary: The EDA is the core agency for all EU Defence matters that do not involve live operations (particular programmes and activities are covered elsewhere).
At stake: The EDA is set up to be the core of the developing European Defence Union. Engagement here interconnects with its work in policy, procurement, and political direction towards a “Defence Union”.
What they say: “Acting as a military interface to EU policies” – third mission.
Exposure: The Agency has signed Administrative Arrangements with Norway (2006), Switzerland (2012), Serbia (2013) and Ukraine (2015) enabling them to participate in EDA’s projects and programmes. In practice, association is not uniform and the future UK-EU terms remain unclear.
Action: UK association should be limited to the posting of liaison officers, to identify work it is prepared to cooperate with in other environments (particularly OCCAR and NATO).
Deep dive: link to the Cross/Rotherham VfB Procurement paper
