The EU's first five joint defence projects open with €325m against a €190bn ambition

On 28 September the Council adopted an implementing decision identifying the first five European Defence Projects of Common Interest (EDPCIs) under the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP): Drone and Counter-Drone European Resolve (DECODER), Integrated Maritime and Seabed Defence (IMSD), SPACE, EU Federated Integrated Air and Missile Defence including Early Warning (EU-FIAMD) and Eastern Flank Watch (EFW). The Commission has put €325 million of EDIP's €1.5 billion behind them, against what it calls a combined funding ambition of around €190 billion by 2036. The decision tells European industry which capabilities the EU wants built jointly. It does not settle who will pay for them.

What €325 million actually buys

EDIP is a €1.5 billion grant programme for 2025-2027, and its work programme, adopted on 31 March 2026, divides the money into small lines. More than €700 million goes to reinforcing industrial production of components, missiles and ammunition; €325 million to the EDPCIs; €240 million to joint procurement by member states and Norway; €100 million to equity support for defence start-ups and SMEs through the FAST fund; €35.3 million to the BraveTech innovation initiative; and €260 million sits inside a dedicated Ukraine Support Instrument. The EDPCI line is the second largest, but it is sized for establishment and deployment rather than for buying equipment.

The gap between that line and the projects' indicative envelopes is the central fact of the decision. According to Defense News, the indicative overall investment for DECODER is €3.5-5 billion by 2033; for the space project, €24 billion by 2034; for Eastern Flank Watch, between €60 billion and €100 billion by 2036; for EU-FIAMD, between €55 billion and €80 billion by 2040; and for IMSD, €43-72 billion by 2045. Commission figures put the aggregate ambition at roughly €190 billion by 2036. On average 18 member states take part in each project, and Ukraine takes part in four of the five.

SAFE's single-country window has closed

The larger instrument is SAFE, created by Council Regulation (EU) 2025/1106 of 27 May 2025, which authorises up to €150 billion in loans and entered into force on 29 May 2025. Its default rule is common procurement involving at least two participating countries. The regulation granted a temporary derogation: procurements carried out by a single member state qualify "where a procurement contract was signed no later than 30 May 2026". At least 65 per cent of component costs must originate in the EU, Ukraine or eligible EEA-EFTA states.

Nineteen of the 27 member states submitted national defence investment plans. The Commission approved a first wave for eight states on 15 January 2026 and a second wave for eight more on 26 January, the latter worth roughly €74 billion. Council clearance followed for eight states on 11 February 2026, covering about €38 billion, with final green lights for Czechia and France on 10 April. That sequencing matters: most national plans were only cleared in the first four months of 2026, leaving a narrow window in which single-country contracts could still be signed before the derogation lapsed.

Payments are flowing; joint contracts are not yet

Disbursement has moved faster than joint contracting. Poland received the first SAFE payment, €6.6 billion on 29 May 2026, representing 15 per cent of its €43.7 billion allocation and making it the largest recipient and the first state paid. Cyprus (€177.2 million) and Lithuania (€956.3 million) followed in June, Greece (€118.2 million) in July and Estonia (€351.6 million) in August. Romania received €2.5 billion on 26 August, 15 per cent of its €16.7 billion allocation, with Bulgaria (€489.3 million) and Latvia (€524.7 million) paid on 28 August. Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius called the Romanian payment "a major milestone for European defence and a more sovereign Europe".

Against that, the publicly confirmed record of actual multi-country buying is thin. On 25 August Poland's Armament Agency signed a framework worth more than PLN 8 billion, about $2.2 billion, with Mesko for Piorun man-portable air defence systems, purchasing for Norway, Lithuania and Latvia as well as Poland. It covers several thousand missiles and several hundred launch units, with deliveries to be completed by 2030; Poland's portion is SAFE-financed, and more than 80 per cent of the equipment goes to the Polish military. Deputy Defence Minister Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka framed the industrial point plainly: "Not only are we implementing this agreement through the Polish defense industry, but our partners from Lithuania, Latvia and Norway have also decided to make purchases in Poland."

That is the pattern the EDPCIs are meant to generalise, and it shows the difficulty. A joint contract that routes most of the hardware and nearly all of the industrial work to the lead buyer satisfies the two-country rule without producing the cross-border consolidation the EU says it wants.

The decision that counts is the next budget

The EDPCI process itself is deliberately open-ended. The Commission launched a call for expressions of interest on 16 February 2026; member states submitted nine proposals by the 29 May deadline, of which five were identified. The Commission says other EDPCIs may be added, and intends to launch a second call before the end of April 2027. On money, its language is conditional: "Union support may continue under the next Multiannual Financial Framework, including through the proposed European Competitiveness Fund." The Council's own statement describes EDIP funding as enabling initial deployment and laying the foundation for possible further funding through that fund.

This places the projects inside the 2028-34 budget negotiation rather than outside it. Until that negotiation concludes, the EDPCIs are a priority list with a pilot budget, and the €190 billion figure is an ambition attached to national and industrial money that has not been committed.

What to watch

• Whether further multi-country SAFE contracts are signed now that the single-country derogation has lapsed, and whether any are led by states other than Poland.
• How the EDPCIs are treated in the Multiannual Financial Framework talks, specifically whether the European Competitiveness Fund carries a defined defence capability line.
• The second EDPCI call, due before the end of April 2027, and whether the proposals submitted in May 2026 but not identified return in different form.
• Whether EU-FIAMD and Eastern Flank Watch, the two largest envelopes, attract national funding commitments or remain governance frameworks.

The September decision answers the question of what Europe wants to build together. The answer on financing is still deferred, and the next readable signal is contract signatures rather than announcements.

Sources

• Council of the EU — European defence industry: Council identifies the first five projects of common interest
• European Commission — Commission welcomes Member States' endorsement of five joint European defence projects
• European Commission — Commission proposes five joint defence projects to strengthen Europe's industrial capabilities
• Defense News — EU nails down five defense priority areas to channel common spending
• EEAS — Commission adopts €1.5 billion work programme to boost European and Ukrainian defence industry
• EUR-Lex — Council Regulation (EU) 2025/1106 of 27 May 2025 establishing the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) instrument
• European Commission — SAFE: Security Action for Europe
• European Commission — Poland receives first €6.6 billion payment under SAFE
• European Commission — Bulgaria, Latvia and Romania receive first payments under SAFE defence instrument
• European Commission — Commission approves first wave of defence funding for eight Member States under SAFE
• Council of the EU — SAFE: final green light for financial assistance to Czechia and France
• Euronews — EU approves €38bn in first defence investments under €150bn SAFE scheme
• Defense News — European allies team up to buy Polish portable anti-aircraft systems