Read more about the article Poland on its Way to Become One of the Largest Armed Forces in Europe?
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Poland on its Way to Become One of the Largest Armed Forces in Europe?

Poland, a country that lies on the eastern flank of the European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), is making serious efforts in defence to reorganise and rebuild its armed forces. A new draft law envisages a doubling of troop strength and a significant increase in military expenditure to counter external threats. These plans would enable Poland to become one of the largest armies in the Europe and to achieve strategic autonomy within the EU and NATO. This InfoFlash will look at what drives this new law. It will also explain what the law entails and how the country plans to finance the new plans. Finally, most importantly, what consequences this future "Great Army" could have for Europe.

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3 February 2022
Read more about the article Who to choose: The Slovakia Armoured Fighting Vehicle purchase
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Who to choose: The Slovakia Armoured Fighting Vehicle purchase

In 2021, the Slovak government announced its intention to purchase several dozen Armoured Fighting Vehicle (AFV) as part of an ongoing effort to modernise its ground forces (The Slovak Spectator, 2021). This is, of course, a welcome development for the European Union’s (EU) defence, as it increases the resource pool upon which the EU can rely in the pursuit of its Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions.

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27 January 2022
Read more about the article Innovation in Europe: Prospects for an EDA Defence Innovation Hub
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Innovation in Europe: Prospects for an EDA Defence Innovation Hub

“Let us recognise that we, the European Union and the Member States, need to do much more together, and we need to do much more together right now. We cannot wait, because the choice for us is simple: either we invest a lot on defence innovation, or we will become defence irrelevant” (European Defence Agency, 2021) This year’s European Defence Agency’s (EDA) Annual Conference focus revolved around discussing the EU innovation in European Defence and what more must be done. Upon speaking to a room filled with EU and national decision-makers, military organisations, think tanks, and other relevant stakeholders within the defence industry, our High Representative for Foreign Affairs of the EU and Vice-President, Josep Borrell, recognised that much more needs to be done. Whether the EU manages to take the appropriate steps towards advancing defensive innovation or not shall decide on the relevance or obsoleteness of its armies in the future.

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20 January 2022
Read more about the article What to expect: a quick overview of the (possible) challenges of 2022
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What to expect: a quick overview of the (possible) challenges of 2022

It is very challenging - if not impossible - to predict what exactly is going to happen in the next twelve months. At the present, Nostradamus is not listed among the authors of Finabel. However, it is possible to outline some of the main themes of discussion and to point out some possible trends. It is important to stress that the quite normally some of the main themes that will be delineated in this article will be overtaken and made superfluous by unpredictable events. Nonetheless, here at Finabel we believe that these might be some interesting topics, which stimulates discussions and debates regarding possible implications that fall well beyond 2022.

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11 January 2022
Read more about the article The Berlin Security Conference: “Europe – Developing Capabilities for a credible Defence”
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The Berlin Security Conference: “Europe – Developing Capabilities for a credible Defence”

The Congress was organised by the Behörden Spiegel and supported by an Advisory Board made up of distinguished international people. It is one of Europe’s major defence and security discussion forums: since 2001, the conference and exhibition in Berlin have drawn representatives from European and non-European nations, as well as European organisations and NATO. The focus is on presenting and debating real solutions to improve European and transatlantic political, strategic, and tactical collaboration, to find solutions to reduce tensions caused by limited capabilities, poor standardisation, a lack of interoperability, disparities in support levels, and national limits. As a result, transatlantic integration and future arrangements were the primary focus of the meeting.

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6 January 2022