Brussels, November 25, 2025 – The European Parliament on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to approve the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP), the EU’s first dedicated initiative to strengthen its defense industrial base and achieve greater strategic autonomy. Adopted by 457 votes in favor, 148 against, and 33 abstentions, the regulation establishes a €1.5 billion framework for 2025–2027 aimed at accelerating joint procurement, expanding production capacity, and deepening cooperation with Ukraine’s battle-hardened defense sector.
The program, which received informal political agreement with the EU Council in October, introduces several innovative financial and operational tools. Of the total €1.5 billion envelope, €1.2 billion is allocated to core EU defense readiness measures, while €300 million is ring-fenced under the Ukraine Support Instrument (USI) to modernize and integrate Ukraine’s defense technological and industrial base with European partners. An additional Fund to Accelerate Defence Supply Chain Transformation (FAST) will receive at least €150 million in voluntary contributions from member states and industry to address critical bottlenecks in raw materials, components, and emerging technologies such as drones and cyber-defense systems.
Lawmakers also secured the possibility of topping up EDIP through the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) instrument, which can mobilize up to €150 billion in loans, and by redirecting unused funds from the Recovery and Resilience Facility toward defense priorities.
Speaking during the plenary session in Strasbourg, EU Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius described EDIP as “a pioneering program for defense preparedness” that will finally move Europe from “improvisation” to “organization” in defense production and procurement. He stressed that the regulation provides a comprehensive “toolbox of crisis-response measures” to guarantee reliable access to defense products and enhance security of supply across the entire Union.
A central feature of EDIP is the creation of a legal framework for European Defence Projects of Common Interest (EDPCIs), which require the participation of at least four member states to qualify for funding. Notably, Ukraine is explicitly allowed to join these consortia, enabling Kyiv to co-develop and co-produce equipment alongside EU companies and to supply its battlefield-proven systems directly to European armed forces.
To reinforce the “buy European” principle and reduce strategic dependencies, the regulation stipulates that defense products seeking EU co-financing may source no more than 35 % of their components or value from non-associated third countries.
The plenary debate revealed sharp ideological divides. Left-wing MEPs criticized the program for diverting resources from social, climate, and cohesion policies, warning against the “militarizing” the EU budget. Some conservative and far-right voices, in contrast, argued the €1.5 billion envelope was far too modest and called for an immediate €20–100 billion boost. Co-rapporteurs Raphaël Glucksmann (S&D, France) and François-Xavier Bellamy (EPP, France) vigorously defended the text. Glucksmann argued that rejecting EDIP would “undermine European sovereignty at the very moment it is most threatened,” while Bellamy warned that a Europe focused solely on social spending without credible defense capabilities would remain “vulnerable and dependent.”
The regulation now awaits formal adoption by the Council of the EU and subsequent publication in the Official Journal, after which it will enter into force and become operational from early 2026.
Industry reaction has been largely positive. European aerospace and defense manufacturers expect the centralized catalogue of defense products and the new European military sales mechanism to drive down unit costs by up to 20 % through economies of scale. Ukrainian companies, which produced over 1.5 million drones in 2024 alone, stand to gain long-term partnerships and investment to rebuild and expand production capacity devastated by the war.
Geopolitically, EDIP is seen as a decisive step toward reducing Europe’s reliance on non-European suppliers at a time of uncertainty over future U.S. security guarantees. Commissioner Kubilius repeatedly emphasized that building European defense autonomy “is not against our allies, but because of Putin,” and that spending “more, better, and European” is the only sustainable path forward.
With EU defense spending already approaching €400 billion annually and projected to require several trillion euros over the coming decade, EDIP—together with the 2024 European Defence Industrial Strategy and the forthcoming 2026 White Paper on European Defence—lays the foundation for a more unified, resilient, and self-reliant European defense posture.
As Russian sabotage campaigns and hybrid attacks intensify across the continent and fighting continues in Ukraine, Tuesday’s vote marks a historic turning point: Europe is no longer merely reacting to crises but is systematically building the industrial and financial instruments to deter and, if necessary, defend itself.
