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European Network Against Arms Trade

ENAAT

The European Network Against Arms Trade (ENAAT) was founded in 1984 at an international conference on arms production and military exports.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Pierfrancesco Maran (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

9 Dec 2025 · Defence

Meeting with Marc Botenga (Member of the European Parliament)

25 Nov 2025 · Militarization

Meeting with Hannah Neumann (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

5 Jun 2025 · Exchange of views on EoV on EU Security and Defence,

Response to Interim Evaluation of the European Defence Fund

20 Feb 2024

PADR & EDIDP primarily functioned as money providers for major EU arms companies and producing countries. The 2021 EDF results show a similar pattern: the top 5 beneficiaries receive 32.5% of allocated funds, and the top 15 over half of it. Four countries (FR, IT, SP, DE) got together 65,1%. Second, the EDF will contribute to the global arms race: one of its main goals is to increase the sectors global competitiveness, that is exports to non-EU-countries. Arms race fuels conflicts, human rights violations, climate change and poverty worldwide as demonstrated in the literature. Most of the main EDF beneficiaries are major providers of arms to countries at war & repressive regimes. A third concern is the serious lack of transparency and ethical assessments of the companies being funded and the technologies being developed, in violation of international obligations. The application of the Financial regulation ethical criteria is not transparent. The fact that no companies were excluded from the 2021 EDF call seems to indicate that such assessment is not properly conducted, as corruption is widespread amongst the military industry. Some of the main recipients have a history of serious allegations or cases of corruption. There is an 18 months-delay between the closure of a call and the publication of detailed data. Meanwhile, most of the EP written questions to get more insight in the projects, their risks and the company selection processes remain unanswered far beyond the official deadline. The rare responses are unsatisfactory and dont allow for a proper external monitoring. Not to say about the lack of transparency as regards the independent experts assisting the Commission and potential conflicts of interest. The deployment of unmanned systems using AI technologies poses obvious risks such as automation bias and non-distinction between civilians & combatants, or between civilian assets & military targets. Several projects explicitly mention the use of AI, while most of the others may use these techniques in specific subsystems. So far the EC has not demonstrated how the funded projects include efficient safeguards against those risks. Such lack of transparency in technical aspects that can lead to situations contrary to ethical standards and international legislation contradicts the EU founding principles and values of non-discrimination, peace, human dignity, and the defence of human rights & international law. As the EDF funds the development of technology to be used in conflict situations, compliance with the Geneva Conventions & IHL is crucial to prevent funding projects that could lead to violations of the laws of war. All EU member states are party to these conventions. In particular, additional protocol I of the Geneva Conventions sets specific obligations when developing new military technologies not covered by international agreements, to ensure that they will not contravene with the principles of international law derived from established custom, humanity and the dictates of public conscience. The EC has not provided satisfactory responses on the concrete measures taken to comply with these obligations when implementing the EDF and ensure that EU-funded technologies will not contravene international law: what independent oversight mechanisms are in place to evaluate projects compliance with relevant European & international legal frameworks and how the projects outcomes would be evaluated in this regard, what corrective actions are foreseen if an EDF project is found to be non-compliant with the aforementioned laws and clauses, how are accountability processes for EDF projects structured, especially in the case of misuse or diversion of research results, what is the remediation plan for any unintended consequences that arise from the use of technology developed under the EDF, are examples of unanswered questions. For all these reasons, the EDF is a global threat to peace and human rights and must be abolished.
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Meeting with Marc Botenga (Member of the European Parliament)

29 Jan 2024 · Arms Trade

Meeting with Marc Botenga (Member of the European Parliament)

11 May 2022 · EU defence policy

Meeting with Enrico Petrocelli (Cabinet of High Representative / Vice-President Federica Mogherini), Oliver Rentschler (Cabinet of High Representative / Vice-President Federica Mogherini)

23 Jan 2018 · EU Defence