Defence Agency spot up for grabs

The European Defence Agency (EDA) hosted a discussion in Brussels last week about what they snappily term the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base.
Its concern is the woeful state of the defence market in Europe, riddled as it is with systems of patronage and private fiefdoms.
Currently Nick Witney, the head of the EDA, is leading the charge to reform the market, but Witney will step down in September. So who might replace him?
The French government has long coveted the position. The head of industrial affairs at the French ministry of defence, Laurent Giovachini, who ran against Witney first time round, might make a repeat attempt. Bertrand de Cordoue, the current director of research and development at the EDA, has also been mentioned as a possible successor.
But French nationals were recently appointed to the chair of the EU's military committee and as special envoy to central Asia, so it might be difficult for Paris to convince other member states it deserves this post as well.
Germany has floated the idea of Hilmar Linnenkamp, the EDA deputy director, getting the job. But Germany may already be too well represented in EU military policymaking circles. Germans – in the form of Helga Schmid and Heinrich Brauss – are respectively head of the Council of Minsters' policy unit and the civil-military cell. Expect an Italian candidate to emerge soon.