ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to present the national preferences and bargaining processes that led to the adoption of the defence transfers directive. It examines the degree to which European Union (EU) institutions such as the European Commission and European Parliament determined the outcome of the directive. The chapter explores the liberal intergovernmentalism with the competing explanations provided by ideational approaches, reactive spillover, economic patriotism and judicial politics. It looks at the rationale behind the transfers directive and government and commercial views towards it; and analyses how and why member states eventually decided to adopt the directive. The initial proposal for, and eventual adoption of, the defence transfers directive reflects an interesting element of the EU defence industrial policy framework. In order for the transfer’s directive to be adopted by the Council of the EU and the European Parliament following the European Commission’s legislative initial proposal on 5 December 2007, it was necessary for national and commercial preferences to somehow align.
