Elisabetta Manunza and Nathan Meershoek present PhD-research plan at the annual procurement day of the Dutch Ministry of Defence

At the annual procurement day of the Dutch Ministry of Defence, Elisabetta Manunza and Nathan Meershoek presented the research plan for the PhD-research which the latter will conduct in the coming years. During their presentation Manunza and Meershoek spoke about the different instruments through which the EU aims to liberalise and integrate the European markets for defence equipment and how these fit – or not fit – within the frameworks of the EU-Treaties.

The EU-Treaties provide a basis for a common Union defence policy. There is however no far-reaching policy which the member states unanimously agree on yet. The EU-Treaties also recognise national security as the member states sole responsibility and provide a broad exception from the internal market rules for military goods. The research will seek to develop legal solutions to overcome these tensions by analysing the rationales for defence procurement and questioning the internal market legal basis of the Directive.