Il processo di integrazione del mercato e dell'industria della difesa in Europa

In December 2001, at the European Council Summit in Laeken, the Heads of State and Government declared that the Union is now capable "of conducting some crisis-management operations". Notwithstanding the declaration on the operational capability of European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP), the road towards an efficient European defence structure is still long and complex. In fact, the new course of European defence policy, made possible by the combination of events within and outside the Union, reinforces the considerations that the operative, institutional and industrial aspects of defence cannot be dealt with separately. The consequent necessity for profound reforms of the European military capacity and defence market has therefore launched a series of initiatives as well as the establishment of several forums to discuss these issues both at a community and intergovernmental level. The objective of this study is to provide an annotated panorama of the main European initiatives in the armament field, verifying the results reached but also describing the main shortcomings and difficulties found in defining the possible policies of Italian intervention. For this reason, the initiatives undertaken in the framework of the European Union are examined firstly the initiatives undertaken in the EU's framework - in particular, discussions of the working group of armaments POLARM as well as initiatives promoted by the Commission - and secondly, those carried out at the intergovernmental level, with reference to demand and supply.