PARIS
\nEU leaders, who gathered for a summit at the Versailles amid the conflict in Ukraine, agreed to considerably increase defense spending by EU countries and jointly develop and purchase new weapons, according to a summit declaration released on Friday.
\nIt\u2019s the first time that an EU summit passes a decision on military spending. Previously these issues were the realm of NATO, while the EU has invariably emphasized its focus on economy.
\n\u201cWe must resolutely invest more and better in defense capabilities and innovative technologies,\u201d the declaration said. \u201cWe therefore agreed to increase substantially defense expenditures, with a significant share for investment, focusing on identified strategic shortfalls, and with defense capabilities developed in a collaborative way within the European Union.\u201d The leaders also agreed to \u201cdevelop further incentives to stimulate Member States\u2019 collaborative investments in joint projects and joint procurement of defense capabilities.\u201d
\nThe declaration also calls for investing further in the capabilities necessary to conduct \u201cthe full range of missions and operations, including by investing in strategic enablers such as cybersecurity and space-based connectivity.\u201d
\nThe EU countries intend to \u201cfoster synergies between civilian, defense and space research and innovation\u201d and \u201ctake measures to strengthen and develop our defense industry, including SMEs.\u201d
\nPresident of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen stated at a news conference after the summit that the EC by mid-May will determine, in cooperation with NATO, what new weapons will require new funding.
\nAt the Wales summit in 2014, the leaders of the NATO countries agreed to increase their national defense spending to at least 2% of GDP under the pretext of countering the Russian threat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARIS EU leaders, who gathered for a summit at the Versailles amid the conflict in Ukraine, agreed to considerably increase defense spending by EU countries and jointly develop and purchase new weapons, according to a summit declaration released on Friday. It\u2019s the first time that an EU summit passes a decision on military spending. Previously […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-249161","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n