PESCO countries agree to project rules for participation of third-country entities

摘要

After two years of political wrangling - and pressure from Washington, DC - the EU Council agreed on 5 November on the rules to allow third-country entities to participate in capability projects falling within the EU's Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) agreement. "This is an important and twofold impulse: on the one hand for PESCO and European defence policy; on the other hand for EU-NATO co-operation," German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced in a 5 November press release. The German government, which currently holds the EU Council's rotating six-month presidency, brokered the deal.