On July 18, 2024, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, was reconfirmed by the European Parliament for a second five-year term. As part of the process, she delivered a speech before the Parliament, complemented by a 30-page program, which outlines the Commission’s political guidelines and priorities for the next five years. The guidelines introduce a series of forthcoming legislative proposals across many policy areas, including on defence and technology security.

Defence Policies Under the 2019-2024 Commission— and a Renewed Focus on Technology

The 2022 invasion of Ukraine marked a paradigmatic change in EU defence industry policymaking with the Commission proposing bold legislation to scale-up defence capabilities and to support Ukraine’s war effort. These included the Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP) and the European defence industry reinforcement through common procurement (EDIRPA). More recently, the Commission released its first-ever European Defence Industrial Strategy (EDIS), accompanied by a proposed regulation establishing the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP), which still has to go the EU’s ordinary legislative procedure.

Tech policy in President von der Leyen’s first term focused on broad regulatory measures such as the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act, and the EU AI Act. But in parallel, the EU has begun to take greater interest in the role of cybersecurity, cyberdefense, and the security of supply of key technologies in Europe.

Ensuring Support and Security in Tech Regulation

This renewed focus on the role of tech in defence and security is deeply embedded in President von der Leyen’s priorities for her second term, which include new mechanisms to enable and promote investment in key sectors. In the summer of 2025, the Commission is to come forward with a proposal for the 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework. The Commission intends to ask for significantly more financing for strategic EU investments, which will face resistance from the more “frugal” Member States. The Commission also plans fundamental revisions of capital markets rules and enable the European Investment Bank to generate greater leverage to enable further investments. It would also use joint public procurement to further its defence and technology security objectives.

This new “investment Commission” intends to use some of these investment facilities to “turbo charge” European investments in technology to ensure “EU added value” and the “security of supply” of tech services. It would also allow a “preference to be given to European products” through public procurement, in line with rising protectionist trends and President von der Leyen’s new economic security policy.

The EU would also invest in rolling out technology to boost productivity—in line with the Strategic Agenda—with pledges to adopt an “AI Factories initiative” in the first 100 days of the upcoming mandate. But it also sees technology as a key contributor to EU defence, and proposes a Defence Project of Common European Interest for cyber defence—to be “designed, built, and deployed on European soil as quickly as possible”. The Commission also plans to strengthen European cyber defence capabilities, working with the Member States to coordinate national cyber efforts and secure national critical infrastructure, and “developing a trusted European cyber-defence industry”.

Scaling up the Defence Union

For the first time, the new European Commission will also include a Commissioner for Defence. In its core defence industrial policy, the new Commission plans significant investments in the EU defence industry, and leveraging procurement—and public and private funds—for Europe’s rearmament.

EDIP will be a core plank of President von der Leyen’s second term aim to build defence production capacity in Europe. Once adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, it should provide €1.5 billion through the end of 2027 towards addressing the defence funding gap in Europe and enhancing the EU’s defence readiness.

President von der Leyen’s political guidelines also indicate that she will seek further funding for existing instruments, including the European Peace Facility (EPF) for Ukraine’s future reconstruction as well as the European Defence Fund and the EDIP. The guidelines mention various priorities for this increased investment, such as building a European Air Shield.

In addition to public funding, the guidelines call for a closer collaboration with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to de-risk common defence projects. The EIB’s Board of Directors recently adopted an action plan to further step-up support for Europe’s security and defence industry. This plan includes an update of the definition of dual-use goods and infrastructure, as well as support to SMEs and startups, and a commitment to accelerate the deployment of funds to strengthen Europe’s security and defence capabilities. The political guidelines also announce a White Paper on the Future of European Defence, to be published in the first 100 days of the Commission’s mandate, introducing a series of new instruments to enhance the EU’s collective defence.

These policy developments reflect unprecedented political momentum behind the European Defence Union. Indeed, beyond President von der Leyen’s own proposals, Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski has, for example, floated the idea of a “European Legion,” modelled in part on the French foreign legion. It would consist initially of 5,000 soldiers, hired as volunteers outside of regular military recruitment processes, from EU Member States and candidate countries. It would be funded out of the EU common budget, and include qualified majority voting for operational decision-making once a mission is authorized by unanimity. And crucially, it would be deployable, for instance, to parts of Africa to counter Russia’s Wagner Group.

Next Steps

After the nomination of Commissioners by each Member State, individual nominee hearings will take place in the European Parliament’s relevant Committees before a vote in plenary session to endorse the full college of Commissioners. At that stage, it will become clear which Commissioners will take the lead on defence policy issues. The new Commission is expected to start at the beginning of November.

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The team at Covington, which cuts across a wide range of regulatory areas, is well placed to advise you on these policy developments, and how to engage with the relevant decision-makers on these questions.

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Clovis de Bryas and Pol Revert Loosveldt of Covington & Burling LLP contributed to the preparation of this article.

Photo of Elżbieta Bieńkowska Elżbieta Bieńkowska

Elżbieta Bieńkowska is a senior advisor in the firm’s Brussels office. Elżbieta, a non-lawyer, served as European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs in Jean-Claude Juncker’s team from 2014 to 2019. In that capacity, she was responsible for much of…

Elżbieta Bieńkowska is a senior advisor in the firm’s Brussels office. Elżbieta, a non-lawyer, served as European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs in Jean-Claude Juncker’s team from 2014 to 2019. In that capacity, she was responsible for much of the European Commission’s regulatory activity that affects the EU’s 450 million citizens, and all companies doing business in the EU. Elżbieta oversaw all product regulation in the EU, setting the rules for goods and services in sectors as diverse as chemicals, cars, electronics, IT infrastructure, machines, medical devices, and hydrogen. She managed the EU’s treatment of IP, led the Commission’s extensive work on standardization, and ran the EU’s industrial policy.

In her time at the Commission, Elżbieta launched the circular economy package, focusing on the regulation of packaging, waste, and batteries. She laid the foundations for the EU’s new industrial strategy, which ultimately resulted in the 2023 proposals for a Net-Zero Industry Act and the Critical Raw Materials Act. She was an early proponent of EU research into AI, and led the Commission’s renewed focus on fostering the space and defense industry in Europe.

Before joining the European Commission, Elżbieta served as Minister for Infrastructure and Development of Poland as well as Deputy Prime Minister. In this role, she was in charge of the allocation of European Union funding and responsible for significant investments in Poland’s transport infrastructure.

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Photo of Atli Stannard Atli Stannard

Atli Stannard is special counsel in the firm’s Public Policy practice. He guides clients in highly regulated industries through complex EU policymaking processes, protecting and advancing their core business and regulatory priorities.

Atli’s practice covers all aspects of EU policymaking and legislative advocacy…

Atli Stannard is special counsel in the firm’s Public Policy practice. He guides clients in highly regulated industries through complex EU policymaking processes, protecting and advancing their core business and regulatory priorities.

Atli’s practice covers all aspects of EU policymaking and legislative advocacy, including the regulation of the tech, food and beverage, pharmaceutical and medical devices, and industrial sectors, and on EU trade, environmental and ESG, and competition policy. He has handled matters before the European Commission, European Parliament, Council of the EU, and Member State and UK governments. Clients rely on him to identify regulatory risks and opportunities, and engage in the policy process to defend and promote their business interests. 

  • Technology: Atli has worked extensively for clients on matters relating to EU data, content, platform, Artificial Intelligence, and competition policy.
  • Food and beverage: Atli helps clients developing novel plant-based foods to secure the necessary regulatory authorizations and engage in broader EU food policymaking. He regularly engages with EU and national authorities to ensure that health and environmental regulations are based in rigorous scientific evidence. He has drawn on his trade policy expertise to assist clients seeking to import food products into the EU.
  • Drug & medical devices: Atli has counseled clients and engaged with the EU institutions on matters relating to genomics, the regulation of medical devices and in vitro diagnostics, health technology assessment, orphan medicines, and pricing.
  • Industrial: Atli helps clients engage with EU and national bodies on the environmental benefits of their innovative technologies, and on EU plastics, chemical, and product regulation.

In his EU trade policy work, Atli regularly advises clients facing on EU market access and customs classification issues, trade defense actions (tariffs and safeguard measures), and non-tariff barriers (including sanitary and phytosanitary measures). He helps clients engage in the EU’s negotiation of new trade agreements. He counsels clients on the impact of the upcoming Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, and how to shape and comply with its requirements.

Atli is a member of the firm’s ESG and Business and Human Rights Practices, and works with clients to assess the impact of and engage with new and upcoming Environmental, Social and Governance rules, including the EU Green Deal, supply chain diligence and the EU’s developing sustainable finance rules.

Atli’s competition policy advocacy work encompasses mergers, challenges under Articles 101 (anticompetitive agreements) and 102 (abuse of dominance) TFEU, and referrals under Article 22 of the EU Merger Regulation.

Atli has counseled international investors extensively on the EU’s proposals for a regime on foreign subsidies, and on the EU’s new FDI screening rules and coordination mechanism, as well as on EU tax policymaking. He also works closely with litigation colleagues to protect clients’ legitimate interests in multiple venues.

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Photo of Bart Szewczyk Bart Szewczyk

Having served in senior advisory positions in the U.S. government, Bart Szewczyk advises on European and global public policy, particularly on technology, economic sanctions and asset seizure, trade and foreign investment, business and human rights, and environmental, social, and governance issues, as well…

Having served in senior advisory positions in the U.S. government, Bart Szewczyk advises on European and global public policy, particularly on technology, economic sanctions and asset seizure, trade and foreign investment, business and human rights, and environmental, social, and governance issues, as well as conducts international arbitration. He also teaches grand strategy as an Adjunct Professor at Sciences Po in Paris and is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the German Marshall Fund.

Bart recently worked as Advisor on Global Affairs at the European Commission’s think-tank, where he covered a wide range of foreign policy issues, including international order, defense, geoeconomics, transatlantic relations, Russia and Eastern Europe, Middle East and North Africa, and China and Asia. Previously, between 2014 and 2017, he served as Member of Secretary John Kerry’s Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. Department of State, where he covered Europe, Eurasia, and global economic affairs. From 2016 to 2017, he also concurrently served as Senior Policy Advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, where he worked on refugee policy. He joined the U.S. government from teaching at Columbia Law School, as one of two academics selected nationwide for the Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship. He has also consulted for the World Bank and Rasmussen Global.

Prior to government, Bart was an Associate Research Scholar and Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia Law School, where he worked on international law and U.S. foreign relations law. Before academia, he taught international law and international organizations at George Washington University Law School, and served as a visiting fellow at the EU Institute for Security Studies. He also clerked at the International Court of Justice for Judges Peter Tomka and Christopher Greenwood and at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit for the late Judge Leonard Garth.

Bart holds a Ph.D. from Cambridge University where he studied as a Gates Scholar, a J.D. from Yale Law School, an M.P.A. from Princeton University, and a B.S. in economics (summa cum laude) from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He has published in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Harvard International Law Journal, Columbia Journal of European Law, American Journal of International Law, George Washington Law Review, Survival, and elsewhere. He is the author of three books: Europe’s Grand Strategy: Navigating a New World Order (Palgrave Macmillan 2021); with David McKean, Partners of First Resort: America, Europe, and the Future of the West (Brookings Institution Press 2021); and European Sovereignty, Legitimacy, and Power (Routledge 2021).

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