You're listening to the European Parliamentary Research Service podcast on the European Defence Industrial Development Program.

With NATO long-shouldering the military burden in Europe, the EU has enjoyed mastering its soft power.

But in the face of changing world politics and new security threats, the EU is starting to get serious about its own security and has embarked

on a general scaling up of its defence capabilities. Stay with us.

If the threat of war in Europe was unthinkable until recently, it does not require a great

deal of imagination to picture one now. Think of the military escalation with Russia.

Instability on the EU's doorstep, especially in the Middle East, rising terrorist threats

inside the EU and cyber security concerns.

Against this backdrop, the US, China, Russia and Saudi Arabia are arming themselves to the teeth.

But defence budgets in most European countries remain well below NATO's

goal of spending 2% of GDP on defence. And after years of underinvestment, Europe is now seriously

lagging behind its counterparts in many defence-related fields. So what to do? Well, the first step

has already been taken, and that was realising that there was a problem, that we could not keep

relying on

the US to continue protecting European citizens in the future. This is why the EU has decided

to take its own defence seriously and get ready to start defending itself. The question was whether

to do it in the framework of NATO or of more emphasis should be put on EU structures. But in both

cases, there was agreement on the need for an improved defence industrial base in Europe.

So what steps have been taken? Stay with us.

In 2016, the EU presented its global strategy for a foreign and security policy,

which was essentially a call for more investment and more cooperation

between EU member states on defence issues. Immediately after that, the EU and NATO signed a

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