Almost three years after the launch of permanent structured cooperation (PESCO) in December 2017, the Council established, on Thursday 5 November, the conditions under which third countries could exceptionally participate in projects (see EUROPE 12592/32).
Conditions. In order to participate in a PESCO project - there are currently 47 - a third country will have to fulfil political, legal and substantive conditions (see EUROPE 12513/20).
It will, first of all, have to share the values and principles of the EU as well as the objectives of the Common Foreign and Security Policy. It should contribute to the strengthening of the Common Security and Defence Policy while not contravening the security and defence interests of the EU and its Member States, including respect for the principle of good neighbourly relations. The country will also need to have a dialogue with the EU, also covering security and defence aspects.
The third State will have to provide substantial added value to the projects and contribute to the achievement of their objectives, for example by providing additional technical expertise or capacity, including operational or financial support. However, the country should not be able to impede progress or prevent the use of the capacities developed under the PESCO project.
Finally, in order to participate, an agreement on the security of information must be in force between the third State and the EU, which is not the case for Turkey, for example. If the PESCO project is implemented with the support of the European Defence Agency (EDA), the country will also need to have an administrative arrangement with the Agency.
Procedure. At procedural level, once a third State has submitted an application to participate in a specific PESCO project, the participants in that project will have to decide unanimously whether the application meets all the conditions and inform the Council of the EU and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy accordingly. The Council must then, by unanimity of the 25 Member States participating in the PESCO, give its agreement to this participation.
Once the third State has been accepted, the project members will have to negotiate an administrative arrangement with the third State defining the rights and obligations of the third State, roles and responsibilities, the extent of participation in decision-making under the project, the scope and areas of information sharing and the conditions for termination of participation in a given PESCO project.
A review mechanism shall also be set up to allow for a periodic examination of whether the participating third State continues to fulfil the necessary conditions to be part of the project. Where one or more EU Member States consider that this is no longer the case, a consultation phase facilitated by the High Representative will be launched to take a decision on further participation.
Entities. The exact conditions and procedures for the participation of third country entities in the implementation of PESCO projects will be decided at a later stage (see EUROPE 12520/20).
After 31 December 2021, entities established, controlled or having their executive management structures in a third State which has not been invited to participate in a PESCO project may be involved in the implementation of a project only if authorised by the Council on a case-by-case basis.
In addition, if a Member State has security concerns regarding the participation of an entity in the implementation of a PESCO project, it may refer the matter to the Council.
See Council Decision: https://bit.ly/3jZl0Ec (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)