A new study paints a mixed picture of the current defense sector in European Union member states.
The European Defence Agency (EDA) said that in 2014, the latest year for which full figures are available, deployment figures "noticeably" declined while defense research and technology (R&T) expenditure was at its "lowest level."
On a brighter note, the EDA said that 2014 marked a "turning point" for European defense expenditure.
The EDA "Defense Data" gathering exercise reveals that after a continuous six-year decline, which started in 2008 following the outbreak of the global economic and financial crises, total defense expenditure of the 27 EDA member states increased in 2014 by 2.3 percent from €190 billion to €195 billion (US $216 billion to US $221 billion), compared to the previous year.
The EDA, a Brussels-based EU agency, said that 2015 estimates suggest a further "nominal" increase of 2.6 percent, or €5 billion to €200 billion, the level comparable to that before the economic crisis.
However, the data supplied by government defense agencies show a trend of steadily declining numbers in defense personnel, both military and civilian, since 2006. This was most evident between 2008-2011 due to "unfavourable" economic conditions.
"Thereafter personnel numbers continued to fall, though at a slower pace, a rate of -1.7% per year on average," the EDA said.
From 2013 to 2014, total civilian personnel dropped by almost 2 percent to 400,000, whereas military personnel fell by half that (nearly 1 percent) to 1.4 million.
The agency also said that the average number of troops deployed outside the EU decreased by almost 46 percent, from 58,000 in 2013 to 32,000 in 2014, mainly due to withdrawal of participating member states' troops from Afghanistan.
In relation to the overall strength of the 27 member states' military personnel, the share of deployed troops almost halved, from 4 percent in 2013 to 2.2 percent in 2014.
Meanwhile, a slight increase (3.2 percent) in R&T expenditure achieved in 2013 was lost the following year, as R&T spending dropped by 4.6 percent (6.1 percent in real terms) back to 2012 levels of €2 billion — the lowest since 2006.
The EDA said that R&T expenditure was highest in 2006, amounting to €2.7 billion — the expected response to the ambitious goal set by EU leaders at the 2005 Hampton Court summit to achieve a paradigm shift in defense R&T by spending more individually and as a single unit.
"However," the EDA added, "it has been gradually decreasing since then, despite the repeated urge to invest in defence R&T now to have effective and credible defence capabilities in the future."
Martin Banks covered the European Union, NATO and affairs in Belgium for Defense News.
