Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/2221 identifies five European Defence Projects of Common Interest under Regulation (EU) 2025/2643

The act gives five industrial programmes legal EDPCI status, with Annex estimates running from EUR 3.5 billion to as much as EUR 100 billion, but it does not award contracts or appropriate the money.

IN BRIEF: On 1 October 2026 the Official Journal of the European Union published Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/2221 of 28 September 2026, identifying five European Defence Projects of Common Interest under Article 35 of Regulation (EU) 2025/2643.

The Council of the European Union has identified the first five European Defence Projects of Common Interest. Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/2221 of 28 September 2026, done at Brussels and signed for the Council by the President, K. KALLAS, was published in the Official Journal L series on 1 October 2026. Article 1 states: “The projects listed in the Annex are identified as European Defence Projects of Common Interest (EDPCIs), within the meaning of Article 35 of Regulation (EU) 2025/2643.” Article 2 states: “This Decision shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.”

The instrument rests on Article 35(3) of Regulation (EU) 2025/2643 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2025 establishing the European Defence Industry Programme and a framework of measures to ensure the timely availability and supply of defence products, the EDIP Regulation. The Council acted on a proposal from the European Commission. Council document reference on the EUR-Lex notice is ST/12742/2026/INIT.

The selection path is set out in the recitals, not in a press note. On 16 February 2026 the Commission launched a call for expressions of interest to consult the Member States on possible EDPCIs within the meaning of Article 35. By the deadline of 29 May 2026, Member States submitted nine project proposals. Under Article 35(5), point (b), the Commission invited the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the European Defence Agency to provide expertise on consistency with the priorities and objectives in Article 35(2), points (b) to (d). Under Article 35(5), point (c), the Commission verified that all Member States and associated countries, and where relevant Ukraine, were informed of each emerging project and given the opportunity to participate. Taking that input into account, the Commission verified the nine proposals against Article 35(2) and proposed five. Recital (5) states that the identified EDPCIs “reinforce the competitiveness of the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base throughout the Union, while contributing to the development of Member States’ military capabilities critical for the security and defence interests of the Union, and meet the criteria laid down in Article 35(2) of Regulation (EU) 2025/2643.” The Council agreed to identify the five. The four proposals not taken forward are not named.

The Annex, not the articles, carries the industrial content. Each entry gives objectives, a list of countries “as of the date of adoption of the implementing act,” and an estimated overall financial size. Those figures are project-scale estimates in the Annex. They are not appropriations in this Decision.

Drone and Counter-Drone European Resolve (DECODER) aims at coordinated development, scaling and deployment of European unmanned and counter-unmanned systems across all domains, joint procurement, expanded production capacity, new and upgraded solutions, and a European Network of Drone Technology Hubs for testing and rapid force modernisation. Participants listed: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Ukraine. Estimated size: EUR 3 500 000 000 to 5 000 000 000 by 2033.

Integrated Maritime and Seabed Defence (IMSD) aims at a federated, interoperable architecture built on three pillars: Maritime Domain Awareness, Naval Combat & Maritime Interdiction, and Underwater & Seabed Warfare. It covers information-sharing, coordinated industrial development, scaling and common procurement of naval platforms, underwater systems, unmanned systems, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance tools, and underwater warfare capabilities, plus cooperation with civil authorities on the European Ocean Pact flagship action on Maritime Domain Awareness. The text says IMSD will strengthen protection of ports, offshore installations, underwater cables and pipelines. Participants listed: Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Ukraine. Estimated size: EUR 43 000 000 000 to 72 000 000 000 by 2045.

SPACE aims to bolster space-based early warning, satellite communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance including signals intelligence, space domain awareness, positioning, navigation and timing, navigation warfare, and responsive space systems, in a multi-mission approach, including investigation of a multi-mission constellation and common procurement of defence products and infrastructure. Participants listed: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Hungary, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Romania, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Ukraine. Estimated size: up to EUR 24 000 000 000 by 2034.

EU Federated Integrated Air and Missile Defence including Early Warning (EU-FIAMD) aims at collective integrated air and missile defence, including early warning and command and control, so that national sensors, effectors and command environments can be combined and jointly employed. The Annex focuses on a common architecture, industrial ramp-up of existing systems, common procurement, critical technologies, and testing, validation and training infrastructure. It states that the architecture “targets full compliance with the priorities, capability needs and interoperability requirements identified in NATO frameworks.” Participants listed: Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Hungary, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Ukraine. Estimated size: EUR 55 000 000 000 to 80 000 000 000 by 2040.

Eastern Flank Watch (EFW) aims at a multi-domain effort to enhance the security of the eastern border of the participating countries and the protection of their entire territory. Initial activities target six capability pillars: ground combat, drone defence, C4ISTAR, counter-mobility, military-mobility, and air and missile defence systems, covering common procurement of products, services and infrastructure, expansion of production capacity, and testing, validation and training, with immediate short-term actions and mid-term developments. Participants listed: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Ukraine. Estimated size: EUR 8 500 000 000 to 10 000 000 000 by 2032, and up to EUR 100 000 000 000 by 2036.

Norway and Ukraine appear on all five lists. Malta does not appear on any. Recital (7) records that Regulation (EU) 2025/2643 allows the Commission, where relevant, to participate in the listed EDPCIs, and allows participating Member States to involve the High Representative and the European Defence Agency as observers. Recital (6) records the Council’s understanding that the Commission’s intent is to assess whether further projects could be identified and to launch a second call for expressions of interest before the end of April 2027. That intent is not an operative deadline in Article 1 or Article 2.

For a defence prime, a subsystem supplier, or an investor underwriting a European production ramp, the legal fact is the identification. EDPCI status is now conferred by a published Council implementing decision. The Decision does not name contractors, set workshares, or open a call for funding. The Annex sizes are estimates attached to the projects, not a budget line in this act.

WHY IT MATTERS: Identification under Article 35 is the gate the EDIP Regulation uses for this class of collaborative industrial project. The Annex now fixes five named programmes, their participant lists as of 28 September 2026, and estimated financial sizes that reach EUR 100 000 000 000 on the Eastern Flank Watch line by 2036. Buyers and suppliers still have no award, no workshare and no appropriated sum in this instrument; the next binding step the Council records is the Commission’s stated intent to open a second call before the end of April 2027.