Vasco Xavier Mesquita at Advocatus Summit 2026: Defence: Law as an Infrastructure of Sovereignty

On 12 May, Advocatus Summit 2026 brought together a panel dedicated to the defence sector with a clear conclusion: public procurement rules no longer keep pace with technological change or current geopolitical demands. Caught between the need to uphold rigour and oversight and the pressure to make swift decisions, the defence sector has become a genuine laboratory for the transformation of European public law.

Vasco Xavier Mesquita, partner at Morais Leitão and a speaker on the panel, sees this as an opportunity to reflect on a theme that is increasingly central to legal practice, and shares five key ideas from the debate.

1. Law as a pillar of collective security. Regulatory frameworks in cybersecurity, infrastructure protection and foreign investment screening are now strategic assets as relevant as military capabilities.
2. Europe has an opportunity for harmonisation. The tension between procurement rules and new geopolitical demands creates space for an ambitious reform to strengthen European strategic autonomy.
3. Technological innovation is redefining the sector. The strategic value of defence lies increasingly in software and embedded intelligence, requiring more agile and adapted procurement models.
4. Law must keep pace with new threats. Cyberattacks, disinformation and cognitive warfare create fertile ground for creative legal responses and normative innovation.
5. Defence as a driver of legal renewal. More than a challenge, this pressure is an opportunity for evolution — reconciling rigour, effectiveness and sovereignty.

The issues debated on the panel are part of a broader challenge: the modernisation of European public law. Meeting that challenge requires lawyers to adopt a proactive stance and an ability to innovate within the existing regulatory framework, in order to address the demands placed on states and businesses alike.

It is in that space that law has its greatest opportunity to continue affirming its role as an infrastructure of sovereignty — in the service of international peace and security.