Italy’s defence policy in the European context: the case of the European Defence Agency

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe creation of the European Defence Agency (EDA) in 2004 represented an important step towards more cooperation in the European defence industry. Notwithstanding the Agency’s potential for redefining relations between domestic and European defence industries, few analysts have systematically examined the EU member states’ preferences towards the EDA. This article – focusing on two theoretical approaches to uncovering the contradictory nature of EU defence-industry cooperation – investigates the specific case of Italian interaction with the Agency. Despite the predominantly empirical focus of the analysis, I argue that a detailed investigation of Italian interaction with the Agency sheds light on unexplored aspects of its behaviour in the EU context, contributing to the recent academic debate on Italian foreign, security and defence policy.