European defence is no longer an abstract debate confined to Brussels, ministries, or military headquarters. Increasingly, it is felt—and shaped—on the ground.

That reality framed a high‑level meeting on 23 March 2026, when Fernando López Miras, Chair of the Working Group on Defence of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), led a delegation representing ten European regions to the European Defence Agency (EDA). The message was clear: defence readiness is not only a national or EU‑level concern—it is a regional one.

Regions at the Sharp End of Security

From border pressure and hybrid threats to the economic and social fallout of Russia’s war against Ukraine, Europe’s regions and cities are often the first to experience security risks. They host critical infrastructure, industrial sites, logistics hubs, and innovation ecosystems. They manage resilience planning, emergency response, and increasingly, industrial policy.

This makes local and regional authorities indispensable actors in Europe’s evolving defence architecture.

Recognizing this, the CoR established its Working Group on Defence in April 2025. Its mission: ensure that regional voices are embedded in EU defence policy—and that security is treated as a multi‑level governance challenge, not a top‑down directive.

EDA’s Readiness Agenda

During the visit, officials from the Chief Executive’s Policy Office of the EDA briefed the delegation on the Agency’s core activities and its expanding role in helping the EU achieve defence readiness by 2030.

Key areas of discussion included:

• Joint procurement of military equipment, aimed at reducing fragmentation and accelerating capability delivery
• Cyber defence, where civilian and military domains increasingly overlap
• Support to the European defence industry, particularly in strengthening competitiveness and supply resilience

EDA also outlined how it contributes to medium‑ and long‑term capability development, helping Member States align investments with shared priorities rather than duplicating national efforts.

Notably, the briefing touched on potential expansion of EDA’s mandate, following the 2025 call by EU leaders to strengthen the Agency—signaling a growing recognition that Europe’s defence tools must match the scale of its security challenges.

Why Regions Matter More Than Ever

What made the meeting distinctive was not the policy content, but the governance shift it represents.

Industrial policy, innovation funding, skills development, and infrastructure planning are often designed and implemented at the regional level. Defence readiness depends on all of them.

Whether it is fostering dual‑use innovation, supporting defence manufacturing clusters, or hardening civilian infrastructure against cyber and hybrid threats, regions sit at the intersection of security and society.

López Miras emphasized this point, underlining the role of regions in strengthening Europe’s overall resilience—not just through military means, but through preparedness, economic robustness, and innovation capacity.

From Coordination to Integration

The exchanges at EDA explored how cooperation between EU‑level defence initiatives and local and regional authorities can move from consultation to integration.

This includes:

• Aligning regional innovation ecosystems with EU capability priorities
• Leveraging regional industrial strengths for defence supply chains
• Embedding resilience and preparedness into regional development strategies

The underlying argument is provocative in its simplicity: defence readiness cannot be delivered by institutions alone. It must be built into how Europe plans, invests, and governs at every level.

A Broader Signal

This meeting may not generate headlines like a weapons contract or a summit declaration. But it reflects a deeper shift in European defence thinking.

Security is no longer treated as an isolated military domain. It is becoming a whole‑of‑society effort, where regions are not passive implementers but active contributors.

As Europe pushes toward its 2030 readiness goals, the question is no longer whether regions belong in defence policy—but whether Europe can afford to move forward without them.

‍