EU Repurposes Civil Funds for Defence: Horizon Europe, EIB, and the ReArm Europe Plan
19 pages · PDF · 17 December 2025 · Licensed single-user copy, watermarked to the buyer
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About this report
Since 2022, security has become a decisive factor in EU industrial policy and in the way public money is used to support innovation and production. The EU is not creating a new defence budget line; it is changing the rules of existing programmes so that defence-relevant and dual-use projects can access funding that was previously framed as civilian.
What is changing is the perimeter: eligibility, implementation conditions, and how different instruments can be combined. This creates new opportunities, but it is not an unlimited opening.
Key questions this report answers
- How is the EU changing the rules of existing programmes rather than creating a new defence budget line to let dual-use projects access previously civilian funding?
- How are Horizon Europe, Digital Europe, STEP and the Connecting Europe Facility being expanded toward dual-use innovation and infrastructure?
- What new flexibilities in the European Defence Fund and the EIB's shift from exclusion to embracing defence industries change the perimeter?
- What are the possibilities and limits of this new defence-finance landscape for eligibility and instrument combination?
Inside this report
- Introduction and Strategic Context
- Horizon Europe: From Civilian-Only R&I to Dual-Use Innovation
- Digital Europe and STEP: Expanding into Dual-Use Digital Technologies
- Connecting Europe Facility: Financing Dual-Use Infrastructure and Mobility
- European Defence Fund: New Flexibilities and Ukraine’s Inclusion
- European Investment Bank: From Exclusion to Embracing Defence Industries
- Conclusion: A New Defence Finance Landscape (Possibilities and Limits)
Who it's for
Bid, compliance and advisory teams working with EU defence funding and procurement instruments, and the counsel who support them.
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Methodology, format & delivery
DFM reports are built from primary and official sources — TED procurement notices, CORDIS and the EU Funding & Tenders Portal, EIB operations, the NATO Innovation Fund portfolio, SIPRI data, official budget documents and company disclosures — read together with the underlying legal texts. Sources are cited in the document; it reflects them as of its publication date (17 December 2025). You receive a 19-page PDF, watermarked to you on every page, delivered on the confirmation page and by e-mail immediately after checkout (personal link valid 72 hours, up to 5 downloads). Guest checkout, single-user licence — Terms of Sale.
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