All EU countries except Britain, Ireland, Denmark, Malta and Portugal said Monday they would sign up to the pact, which will be officially launched at a summit next month. By the time of the summit, diplomats expect only Britain, Denmark and Malta not to be involved.
Although the initiative, known as Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) in EU jargon, is a Franco-German brainchild, some differences between Berlin and Paris have emerged, diplomats said. Germany wanted the pact to include as many countries as possible while France wanted it to be as militarily ambitious as possible, they said. [...]
The new initiative aims to spend more on defense systems and make member countries’ militaries much more integrated with each other. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel stressed it would have economic benefits. He said Europe spends 50 percent as much as the United States on defense yet only has 15 percent of its military efficiency.
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