Twenty-three member states of the European Union have signed a historic deal to cooperate more closely on defense. The pact, known as Permanent Structured Cooperation or PESCO, legally binds its signatories into joint defense projects as well as pledging to increase defense spending and contribute to rapid deployments.
The pact includes all EU governments except Britain, which is due to leave the bloc in 2019, Denmark, Ireland, Portugal and Malta.
It is backed by a $5.8 billion fund for buying weapons, plus extra cash for operations and money from the EU budget for defense research. Leaders hailed the agreement as …read more
Source: Voice of America
