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| PESCO |

deepen defence cooperation within the Union frame- • Military capacities developed within PESCO remain
work. It will be a driver for integration in the field of in the hands of Member States that can also make
defence. them available in other contexts such as NATO or the
• Each participating Member State provides a plan UN.
for the national contributions and efforts they have
agreed to make. These national implementation PESCO as part of a comprehensive
plans are subject to regular assessment. This is dif- defence package
ferent from the voluntary approach that is currently • PESCO is closely connected to the new Coordinated
the rule within the EU’s Common Security and De- Annual Review on Defence (CARD) and the European
fence Policy. Defence Fund (EDF), which is currently being devel-
• PESCO is designed to make European defence more oped under the European Defence Industrial Devel-
efficient and to deliver more output by providing en- opment Programme. They are complementary and
hanced coordination and collaboration in the areas of mutually reinforcing tools contributing to the same
investment, capability development and operational political goal:
readiness. Enhanced cooperation in this domain will • CARD, to be run by the European Defence Agency,
allow decreasing the number of different weapons’ through systematically monitoring of national defence
systems in Europe, and therefore strengthen opera- spending plans, will help identify opportunities for
tional cooperation among Member States, increase new collaborative initiatives.
interoperability and industrial competitiveness. • The EDF will provide financial incentives to foster de-
• PESCO will help reinforce the EU’s strategic auton- fence cooperation from research to the development
omy to act alone when necessary and with partners phase of capabilities including prototypes.
whenever possible. Whilst PESCO is underpinned • PESCO will develop capability projects, identified
by the idea that sovereignty can be better exercised notably through the CARD process in priority areas.
when working together, national sovereignty remains Eligible projects could also benefit from financing un-
effectively untouched der the EDF, which would foresee an additional 10%
• It is about providing an umbrella for such examples financing for the defence industrial development
of regional defence integration as the Belgian-Dutch phase of projects developed within PESCO frame-
Navy or the European Air Transport Command. work.

“PESCO IS DESIGNED TO MAKE EUROPEAN DEFENCE MORE EFFICIENT AND
TO DELIVER MORE OUTPUT BY PROVIDING ENHANCED COORDINATION AND
COLLABORATION IN THE AREAS OF INVESTMENT, CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT
AND OPERATIONAL READINESS.”

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