For many, the European Defence Agency’s (EDA) creation in 2004 represented a long-awaited turning point in Europe’s development. The EU's members collectively possess some of the world’s most competitive defense industries and would become a defense-industrial superpower if they integrated their arms industries. Now, ten years after the EDA’s creation, the Agency’s actual accomplishments are modest and its prospects somber. The main reason for the EDA’s failure has been competition from more established organizations. NATO precluded the EDA from ever establishing a niche for itself in standards-setting or logistics/maintenance, while the EU’s Commission supplanted the EDA as the primary integrator of European defense markets. The two remaining roles left to the EDA—fostering collaborative projects and coaxing governments into addressing Europe’s capabilities gaps—were those inherently most difficult to accomplish, leaving the EDA with few opportunities to establish a track-record.
