The Council of the EU and European Parliament negotiators have reached a provisional agreement to accelerate and coordinate defence-related investment under the current EU budget, advancing the Commission’s “ReArm Europe” plan.
The package, informally dubbed the “mini-Omnibus for defence”, opens several existing EU funding instruments to defence and dual-use projects with the stated aim of strengthening Europe’s defence technological and industrial base (EDTIB).
A headline element is the decision to associate Ukraine with the European Defence Fund (EDF), enabling Ukrainian entities to join future EU-funded collaborative research and development. The deal requires formal approval by both institutions before adoption.
According to the Council, the agreement amends five regulations: the Digital Europe Programme, the European Defence Fund, the Connecting Europe Facility, the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP), and Horizon Europe. In practical terms, it broadens eligibility in Horizon Europe to allow support for dual-use and defence-related companies, while holding to eligibility rules already embedded in new defence financing tools such as the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) and the European Defence Programme (EDIP). The intent is to make EU financing faster and more flexible, and to coordinate projects that reinforce industrial capacity, supply chains and cross-border cooperation across the EDTIB.
The political message accompanying the agreement emphasised readiness by 2030 and closer operational ties with Kyiv. Denmark’s Defence Minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, said the measures are “an important milestone in implementing the ReArm Europe plan” and argued that maximising investment in defence and dual-use technologies will better prepare the EU “together in Europe and with Ukraine”. Denmark’s Minister for European Affairs, Marie Bjerre, described the outcome as removing hurdles to investment and “opening key EU programmes to defence-related investments”, framing it as a step towards a more resilient Europe able to defend itself by 2030.
Association of Ukraine to the EDF marks a notable broadening of the fund’s collaborative scope. While the EDF has supported joint R&D among EU and associated participants since 2021, adding Ukraine is intended to integrate parts of its defence industrial base into European consortia, subject to the fund’s standard rules and safeguards. The Council says this will create “new possibilities” for Ukrainian entities to join future projects, signalling a longer-term industrial partnership alongside ongoing military aid channels. The arrangement follows earlier steps to include Ukraine in EU defence initiatives and mirrors the Commission’s emphasis on deepening industrial ties with key partners in response to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Today’s mini-Omnibus sits within a wider set of measures adopted in 2025 to mobilise capital and simplify regulation for defence output. In May, Member States approved SAFE, a €150 billion EU-level loan instrument intended to finance collaborative defence projects with “buy European” conditions and options for participation by close partners. In June, the Commission tabled the Defence Readiness Omnibus (DRO), proposing fast-track permitting and the removal of administrative bottlenecks to enable rapid capacity expansion across Member States. Together with ReArm Europe, these tools are designed to lift investment levels, reduce fragmentation, and shorten timelines from project launch to production.
Substantively, the legislative changes aim to channel parts of existing EU envelopes—traditionally geared to cohesion, research and infrastructure—towards dual-use infrastructure and defence-adjacent innovation. Under Connecting Europe Facility rules, for example, upgrades to transport corridors can be tailored to military mobility needs as well as civilian traffic, while Digital Europe and Horizon Europe can back enabling technologies with both civilian and defence applications. STEP is expected to support scale-up of strategic technologies and to crowd in private capital, complementing SAFE’s lending capacity and the EDF’s grant-based R&D approach. The Commission and co-legislators argue that aligning these strands should reduce duplication and deliver economies of scale in procurement and production.
Procedurally, the provisional deal now moves to legal-linguistic finalisation and formal votes in Parliament and Council. If adopted, the amended regulations would apply within the current Multiannual Financial Framework, enabling near-term calls and work programmes to reference the expanded scope. The Commission has said that ReArm Europe targets a sharper focus on capability gaps, supply-chain depth and surge capacity, in line with European Council guidance from March 2025. The outcome will be closely watched by industry and Member States seeking to synchronise national procurement with EU co-financing, and by Ukrainian firms assessing the terms for EDF participation.
The agreement reflects an incremental but coordinated approach: using existing programmes to accelerate delivery while separate initiatives address regulation and finance. SAFE provides large-scale lending; the DRO proposes administrative streamlining; the mini-Omnibus retools current programmes for dual-use and defence. With formal adoption pending, implementation will hinge on the design of calls, eligibility filters (including security of supply and non-dependence criteria), and the ability of consortia to move projects from design to production at pace. The decision to associate Ukraine to the EDF adds an external dimension intended to reinforce European-Ukrainian industrial cooperation as the conflict continues.
