In recent years, the establishment of a common defence market has become an increasingly important objective for the EU. Member States are clearly in lead in this endeavour, but the European Commission can support them and help to set up a homogeneous regulatory framework. In the field of defence procurement, the Commission therefore issued an Interpretative Communication on the use of Article 296 and tabled a proposal for a new defence specific Directive. These initiatives will bring important parts of defence procurement into the Single Market and enhance the openness of defence markets between Member States.
