Up in the Air: European Union and Transatlantic Defence Industrial Cooperation
By John Appelby and Edward Foster18 Jun 2004
In 1990 the RUSI brought out Whitehall paper 6, entitled 1992: Protectionism or Collaboration in Defence Procurement. Much of its substance remains valid three years on, since the process of streamlining it describes in the defence industries predates the Single European Act and continues without strict regard to the new competition affecting the wider market.
However, since the publication of Whitehall Paper 6, the language of Europe’s institutions has undergone change, with the Maastricht Treaty becoming the conventional measure of the success or failure of the European Union. The EC has thus been tempted to lift its gaze beyond the operation of a functional unified market. But the most profound change, one which justifies a new analysis, is that affecting the landscape in which these organisations are sited. The disappearance of the Soviet military threat has encouraged Americans and Europeans alike to lower their vision from the overriding priority of collective security to focus instead on issues which divide rather than unite them.
This Whitehall Paper should therefore be seen as a companion to its predecessor, updating where necessary and building upon arguments already advanced.
Copyright © 2008 RUSI
