It took 70 years, but the European Union finally signed a pact today (Nov. 13) agreeing to integrate military funding, weapons development, and deployment of European defenses.
US president’s Donald Trump’s frequent accusations that EU countries do not pay enough into NATO has been one catalyst for them move forward with a unified plan for military cooperation.
The other is that it could legitimately diminish the bloc’s dependence on US military support.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, called the pact “historic” as “the real problem is not how much we spend, it is the fact we spend in a fragmented manner.”
In the end, it means that the EU would have stronger, better synchronized national military forces to respond to crises together.
“I think it is a potential game-changer,” Haman Buskhe, the CEO of Swedish defense company Saab told the Wall Street Journal (paywall).
The next step will be for EU leaders to sign the legally binding agreement in December. »
