Zusammenfassung:
Europe's fragmented defence procurement markets undermine Europe's security efforts. Larger procurement markets, by contrast, deliver sharper competition, lower prices, and stronger incentives for specialisation and technological progress. Using data from the EU's Tender Electronic Daily (TED), this Policy Brief shows domestic bias in defence procurement: three-quarters of contracts go to national firms, and cross-border awards remain limited outside smaller member states. Two policy steps stand out. First, start small: open competition in non-sensitive products can deliver quick wins. Second, improve data: only around 10 percent of defence spending is captured in TED, far less than total procurement volumes. Better data would allow policymakers to track progress, close information gaps, and take better decisions.