European Defense Agency

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
European Defense Agency
EVA

Logo of the EVA
 
 
English name European Defense Agency (EDA)
French name Agence européenne de defense
Organization type European Union Agency
status Establishment of European public law with its own legal personality
Seat of the organs Ixelles , Belgium
Chair High Representative of the EU for Foreign and Security Policy
Secretary General Jiří Šedivý
Member States 27
founding

2004

eda.europa.eu

The Agency for the Development of Defense Capabilities, Research, Procurement and Armaments or European Defense Agency ( EVA ), English European Defense Agency ( EDA ), is an agency of the European Union for arms planning, procurement and research founded in 2004 . It is thus a central institution of the Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP, formerly European Security and Defense Policy, ESDP).

tasks

According to its founding document, the EVA was mandated to "support the Council and the Member States in their efforts to improve the EU's defense capabilities in the field of crisis management and to provide lasting support to the CSDP as it is now and as it will develop in the future". In 2007, the Treaty of Lisbon included the EVA in European primary law. Accordingly, according to Article 42 (3) of the EU Treaty, it “determines operational needs and promotes measures to meet these needs, contributes to the identification of measures to strengthen the industrial and technological base of the defense sector and, if necessary, carries out these measures, participates in the definition a European policy in the field of capabilities and armaments and assists the Council in assessing the improvement of military capabilities ”.

It is therefore responsible for developing effective defense capacities (particularly in the area of ​​crisis management) and coordinating the armaments activities of the member states and possible joint weapons purchases. It is also intended to help finance European arms research . The coordination activities of the EVA are intended to enable a more efficient use of the armaments expenditures of the European states - for example by avoiding overcapacities and through synergy effects in joint purchases.

organization

Members of the European Defense Agency
Denmark - opt out
Norway - opt in

It is headed by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy , currently Josep Borrell . After it was founded by a decision by the heads of state and government of the European Council in autumn 2004, the EVA was initially headed by Javier Solana , who was also High Representative for the EU's common foreign and security policy. On December 1, 2009, leadership passed to Catherine Ashton , Solana's successor as High Representative for the CFSP. From February 9, 2010 to October 31, 2014, she headed the EVA in her new capacity as EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Federica Mogherini succeeded her on November 1, 2014. The EVA's decision-making body is a steering committee that includes the High Representative as chairman of the Defense Ministries of the 27 participating countries (all EU members except Denmark ). The agency's managing director, currently Jiří Šedivý, reports to the steering committee, which in turn is subject to the requirements of the Council of the European Union . The EVA had a total of 110 employees in 2010, compared to 126 in December 2014.

budget

year Budget (million €) Expenditures (million €)
2004 1.9 0.4
2005 20.7 12.8
2006 22.7 18.8
2007 22.4 21.5
2008 27.5 26.2
2009 29.2 28.1
2010 31.0 30.5
2011 30.5 30.5
2012 30.5 30.5
2013 30.5 30.5
2014 30.5 30.5

Results

One of the first results of the European Defense Agency was a voluntary agreement from 2005, according to which military purchases by member states must be put out to tender across Europe. Such Europe-wide tenders were already provided for by the EC Treaty (today the AEU Treaty ) for all major government contracts ; However, under Article 296 of the EC Treaty, military purchases were previously exempt from this. At the end of 2006, the European Defense Agency adopted a joint research program worth 55 million euros.

Within the framework of the Intergovernmental Regime on the Defense Procurement of the EVA, 534 orders were put out to tender from July 1, 2006 to July 1, 2010, of which 308 resulted in a bidding contest. The total volume of the defense contracts awarded with the participation of EVA amounted to almost 21 billion euros in the period mentioned.

In addition, the EVA developed a Europe-wide training program for helicopter crews (HTP). The first exercise under this program took place in 2009. Since then, the joint maneuvers have usually taken place annually in different countries. In addition to the maneuvers, there are joint training courses.

Another area of ​​responsibility is air transport. Similar to the helicopter initiative, there have been joint exercises and training sessions organized by the European Air Transport Command since 2012, also at changing bases . At Zaragoza Airport will be completed by 2016 a training center for transport pilots.

With an in-flight refueling initiative, there has been a third area of ​​joint exercises in the military aviation sector since 2013.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b FDFA Chief Executive
  2. ↑ Speech by Alexander Weis at the Farnborough International Airshow , last accessed on September 16, 2010.
  3. ↑ eda.europa.eu
  4. ^ European Defense Agency: The Code of Conduct on Defense Procurement of the EU Member States Participating in the European Defense Agency. (PDF) November 21, 2005, accessed on September 16, 2017 (English).
  5. ↑ Helicopter Initiatives , EVA homepage, Jan 20, 2015.
  6. ↑ European Air Transport Fleet , EVA homepage, Nov. 5, 2014.
  7. ↑ Air-to-Air Refueling , EVA homepage, Nov. 11, 2014.

Coordinates: 50 ° 50 ′ 7.5 ″  N , 4 ° 21 ′ 32.2 ″  E