The Defence Readiness Omnibus: Europe’s Constitutional Stress Test for Defence-Industrial Integration
Eligibility, national control and the future of Europe’s defence market
The Defence Readiness Omnibus is not simply a simplification package for the European defence industry. It is a test of whether the European Union can turn defence readiness into a coherent industrial and regulatory architecture. The central issue is not only whether Europe will spend more, but whether higher defence expenditure will create a more integrated European market or reinforce a set of nationally protected industrial systems. Eligibility rules, “Buy European” criteria, Article 346 TFEU, national investment-screening regimes and Golden Power-type controls now sit at the centre of this question. They determine who can access EU-backed defence finance, which companies qualify as European, how supply chains are treated, and how far Member States can still protect strategic assets through national security powers.
The report is structured in four sections. The first reconstructs the Defence Readiness Omnibus as a regulatory reset, distinguishing law in force, legislative proposals, Commission communications, staff working documents and trilogue-related developments. The second examines eligibility, “Buy European” criteria and Article 346 TFEU as the legal core of the integration problem. The third analyses national investment screening in Italy, Germany and France, showing how national industrial vetoes continue to shape market consolidation. The fourth tests the framework against three M&A cases: Leonardo/Iveco, Rheinmetall/NVL and KNDS/Texelis. The report concludes by assessing whether the Omnibus can support genuine European defence-industrial integration or whether it will leave Europe with more finance, more procurement activity, but still fragmented industrial sovereignty.