EESC hearing puts Ukraine’s industry inside Europe’s defence-capacity debate

Event: 2026-11-10 · Brussels

The European Economic and Social Committee will hold a public debate and hearing on strengthening European defence together with Ukraine on 10 November. Its draft programme divides the discussion into two hour-long panels: Europe’s industrial capacity and cooperation with Ukraine. That structure puts integration alongside production, rather than treating it as an afterthought.

The hearing is organised through the Consultative Commission on Industrial Change, known as CCMI, at the Jacques Delors Building, Rue Belliard 99-101, Brussels. The current programme runs from 14:30 to 16:45 CET, the same local time as Warsaw. The official event page provides a separate webstream page.

The discussion is intended to inform a forthcoming exploratory opinion requested by the Lithuanian Presidency. It is a consultative step. The published agenda is a draft and does not establish an adopted position, a procurement procedure or a financing decision.

Two industrial questions in one afternoon

After opening remarks at 14:30, the first panel starts at 14:35 and addresses strengthening Europe’s defence capacity through a whole-of-society approach. The second, from 15:35, turns to cooperation between EU and Ukrainian defence industries. Both include questions and answers; closing remarks are scheduled for 16:35-16:45.

The event description links manufacturing scale, joint procurement and innovation with reducing dependence on suppliers outside the EU. It also includes workers and social and environmental commitments. Those are subjects for discussion, not conditions of a newly opened industrial grant.