Special Report: EU Cohesion Policy and Defence

This special edition of Defence Finance Monitor examines the unprecedented convergence between EU cohesion policy and defence. For decades, cohesion funds such as the ERDF, the Cohesion Fund and the ESF+ were used exclusively to promote regional development, reduce disparities and strengthen social inclusion.

The 2025 mid-term review of the EU’s financial framework has fundamentally altered this paradigm, explicitly opening cohesion instruments to defence-related objectives. Industrial capacities, dual-use infrastructure, military mobility, civil preparedness, SME participation and skills development have all been integrated into the scope of cohesion funding.

This analysis answers: How does the 2025 mid-term review of the EU financial framework open cohesion instruments (ERDF, Cohesion Fund, ESF+) to defence-related objectives? Which defence objectives - industrial capacities, dual-use infrastructure, military mobility, civil preparedness, SME participation and skills - now fall within cohesion funding scope? How does this convergence alter the historic regional-development and social-inclusion purpose of cohesion funds? What are the governance and implementation implications of channelling cohesion policy toward defence?