Spending, capabilities, partnerships Ministers Welcome First Annual Defence Readiness Report

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EU Ministers of Defence have welcomed the first Annual Defence Readiness Report, prepared by the European Defence Agency (EDA) with contributions from the European Commission and the European External Action Service, including the EU Military Staff.

Presented at the EDA Ministerial Steering Board meeting, the report provides a consolidated assessment of Europe's progress towards defence readiness by 2030, highlighting progress achieved and identifying areas where further efforts are required.

“The EU Annual Defence Readiness Report shows that we have done a lot. Defence investment has increased, but significant capability gaps remain. We now need to focus on how we actually fill those gaps,” said High Representative and Head of the European Defence Agency Kaja Kallas ahead of the meeting of EU Defence Ministers.

She added that Europe needs to rearm more quickly and more effectively to meet EU's 2030 defence readiness target. “Europe needs a decisive change in the scale and pace of defence investment, capability development, innovation, and industrial capacity.”

The annual reporting mechanism was foreseen in the Defence Readiness Roadmap 2030 to monitor progress across capability priorities and the European defence industrial base. It provides Member States with a tool to track progress, identify remaining gaps and guide future defence efforts, at a time when Europe faces a rapidly evolving security environment and greater responsibility for its own defence.

Europe’s security landscape is changing rapidly

As defence budgets rise and EU programmes expand, civil technology providers are becoming vital contributors to Europe’s strategic autonomy. The event will act as a neutral platform for dialogue between technology suppliers, integrators, and decision-makers shaping the next generation of European defence capabilities and aims to open doors between civil industry and defence procurement, providing practical insights.

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Four focus areas

The report assesses progress across four interrelated areas: defence spending, capabilities, defence industry and partnerships.

• On defence spending: EU Member States have reached levels of defence expenditure unprecedented in the past 30 years. According to the latest EDA data, Member States’ defence expenditure reached €418 billion in 2025, equivalent to 2.2% of EU GDP, and could reach up to €547 billion by 2029.
• On capabilities: work is advancing through nine areas aligned with the Priority Capability Areas (PCAs), with particularly significant progress in drone and counter-drone capabilities and in the maritime domain. Further efforts will be needed to address remaining capability gaps.
• On defence industry: alongside ramping up production capacity, Europe needs to continue strengthening security of supply while fostering innovation and competition across the European defence industrial base.
• On partnerships: closer cooperation with like-minded partners and reinforced EU-NATO cooperation remain important for Europe’s defence readiness. Ukraine is a particularly important partner in this regard. Its battlefield experience, technological innovation and defence-industrial capabilities, combined with Europe’s industrial and technological base, can strengthen the collective ability to achieve defence readiness at the required pace.

The report is intended for governmental use and not for public release. EU leaders, who tasked EDA with coordinating its preparation in October 2025, are expected to discuss the report at the European Council meeting on 15–16 October 2026.