The European Union and the United States are on the verge of agreeing to a transatlantic free trade agreement. The proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is aimed at boosting European and American economic growth, but the negotiating partners have not excluded the defence sector from negotiations. Any TTIP extending to the defence sector will raise questions about the nature of the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB), and, crucially, how it impacts on the Atlantic Alliance and the Common Security and Defence Policy. Europe is at a critical juncture regarding the rationale for its defence-industrial integration efforts, and so the TTIP might – if it indeed includes defence – be an important element in how these efforts evolve.
This was the theme of my recently published article with The International Spectator entitled: ‘“The TTIP-ing Point”: How the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Could Impact European Defence’. I essentially argue that if the TTIP extends to the defence sector – and this is a very big if at the moment – it could incentivise moves by European states to bolster interoperability, capability development and to get serious about the EDTIB. However, given the global competitiveness of American military firms and the size of the United States’ defence market, a TTIP could eventually favour the Atlantic Alliance rather than the Common Security and Defence Policy by deepening transatlantic military-industrial relations. Indeed, for Europeans a ‘defence TTIP’ could be a political tool to keep the United States locked into European security through the Atlantic Alliance without necessarily sacrificing its industrial efforts under the EDTIB.
