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  "authors": [
    "Raluca Csernatoni",
    "Bruno Oliveira Martins"
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Source: Getty

Other
Carnegie Europe

The European Defense Fund: Key Issues and Controversies

The European Defense Fund holds the potential to fundamentally challenge the nature of the EU as a peace project.

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By Raluca Csernatoni and Bruno Oliveira Martins
Published on Mar 1, 2019
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Europe

The Europe Program in Washington explores the political and security developments within Europe, transatlantic relations, and Europe’s global role. Working in coordination with Carnegie Europe in Brussels, the program brings together U.S. and European policymakers and experts on strategic issues facing Europe.

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Source: Peace Research Institute Oslo

The recently-launched European Defence Fund (EDF) is a ground-breaking investment in the areas of security and defence and holds the potential to fundamentally challenge the nature of the European Union (EU) as a peace project.

Proponents of the EDF frame the initiative as crucial to European security in an age of increasing political instability and rapid technological change. As such, the EDF is framed as a much-needed catalyst for scaling up the EU’s defence by conferring strategic autonomy to Europe, and overhauling a lagging European Defence Technological and Industrial Base.

To achieve these goals, the EDF stresses the need to optimise strategic value for money by funding cutting-edge research and innovation and by fostering the development of interoperable defence capabilities. However, the EDF also raises important questions about EU’s political priorities, output legitimacy, and security and defence governance.

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This policy brief was originally published by the Peace Research Institute in Oslo (PRIO).

About the Authors

Raluca Csernatoni

Fellow, Carnegie Europe

Raluca Csernatoni is a fellow at Carnegie Europe, where she specializes on European security and defense, as well as emerging disruptive technologies.

Bruno Oliveira Martins

Bruno Oliveira Martins is a senior researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo in Norway.

Authors

Raluca Csernatoni
Fellow, Carnegie Europe
Raluca Csernatoni
Bruno Oliveira Martins

Bruno Oliveira Martins is a senior researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo in Norway.

Bruno Oliveira Martins
SecurityEuropeWestern EuropeIran

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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