On Tuesday 23 May, the Council of the European Union unveiled eleven new projects in the framework of the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) which, after Denmark joined (see EUROPE 13149/19), now includes all Member States except Malta.
Fifteen countries will be specifically involved in these eleven projects, which include the protection of critical maritime infrastructure, a new generation helicopter and the development of new air defence systems and new types of munitions.
For the Executive Director of the European Defence Agency (EDA), Jiří Šedivý, these eleven new projects stimulate the process initiated by permanent structured cooperation by making it possible to design “the next generation [of military] capabilities (...) that require a joint effort at the EU level”.
Since March 2018, 72 projects have been launched and 21 of them have reached the implementation phase.
However, by the end of 2022, the EDA had found that defence planning continues to be predominantly national, with less than 20% of total investments being collaborative in nature (see EUROPE 13063/1). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)