L’UE peut-elle devenir un client de la défense à part entière ?

How far are the Member States prepared to let the Commission go? Could the Union, one day, co-finance the implementation of a project such as the anti-aircraft shield, as Poland and Greece would like? The notion of "Defence Customer” What are the characteristics of defence customers? Procurement dimensions are important but it is necessary to distinguish the acquisition of equipment (core procurem. [...] The Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the growing instability in the world have changed the situation. [...] Furthermore, when the Commission adopts a role akin to that of a central purchasing body, it is the Commission that negotiates contracts with the industries concerned and defines the terms, in agreement with the Member States involved in the purchase. [...] By ricochet, if the Member States so wished, the EU could also buy and stock dual-use components that are essential to the defence industry, such as powders for explosives (it should be remembered that, for the moment, the Chips Act and the CRM Act allow the Union to support joint procurement, but do not provide for the possibility of the EU itself making purchases and building up stocks). [...] Articles 163 and 165 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which aim to strengthen the competitiveness of European industry and the economy, could provide the legal basis for the EU to carry out these new tasks.