Impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the European Commission's role in defence industry and defence policy

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present and analyse the growing role of the European Commission in defence capability development. In the first section, I review the literature on the theoretical background of the Commission’s role in the European defence policy. In the second section, I briefly present the decision-making processes in the fields of Common Foreign and Security Policy and Common Security and Defence Policy. Following the discussion of the external factors that underpin these developments, I elaborate on the past role of the European Commission and how it has changed after the recent Russian aggression in the Ukraine.