Cooperation in Defence and Security Procurement among EU Member States

Abstract

Strengthening cooperation in defence and security procurement among Member States has become an important concern of the European Union. Because joint procurements reduce costs, facilitate cooperation and strengthen allies, the European Commission has encouraged Member States repeatedly to cooperate more strongly in such matters. The expected increase in cooperation creates a pressing need to familiarise oneself with the applicable legal framework – a need this paper seeks to satisfy. It focuses on cases, in which Member States charge one entity (which may be, for example, one of the Member States or an international organisation) with the procurement of security goods and services and proceeds in three main steps. First, it analyses the applicable procurement rules for both the external relationship between the entity and the supplier as well as the internal relationship between the entity and the participating Member States. In a second step, the paper proceeds in closely examining the narrowly confined exemptions found in EU primary law as well as the exemption framework of Directive 2009/81/EC. In its final section, the paper delineates the legal protection available to aggrieved parties with respect to both relationships. Keywords: Defence and security; Joint/collaborative procurement; Directive 2009/81/EC; Article 346 TFEU.