Analysing the European Defence Fund’s financing distribution across EU countries: what drives national participation in defence-industrial integration projects?

The establishment of the European Defence Fund (EDF) marks a significant shift in how EU Member States approach the integration of the defence industry as it aims to systematically promote inter-European defence-industrial cooperation across national defence sectors. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence of the actual dynamics regarding EDF implementation. While there are accounts of EU countries’ varying political positions on defence integration, including its industrial aspect, it remains unclear whether Member States’ actual participation in integration projects aligns with these positions. Are national motives consistent once effective defenceindustrial integration is underway? The findings, based on Masson’s (2024) data on by-country distribution of EDF project financing (2021–2022), present a more nuanced picture of EU countries’ effective engagement with defence-industrial integration than anticipated by the political perspective. While there is a positive relationship between participation in the EDF and defence market size, strategic culture does not influence EU members’ involvement in the Fund. Furthermore, while liberal economicindustrial governance is negatively associated with national participation in EDF projects, a country’s institutional quality has a significant positive relationship with it. This article reveals more complex dynamics of EDF implementation than suggested by the political perspective on defence-industrial integration pre-EDF.