international
Third states wishing to participate in an individual PESCO project
must fulfil a number of common requirements and values
development of the Compass in order
for it to be approved and adopted by
the European Council. The Strategic
Compass will be applied in four
interconnected key areas of EU action:
missions and operations, resilience,
capabilities and means, and relations
with other countries.
CAPABILITIES
Another major issue addressed by the
Defence Ministers was the Permanent
Structured Cooperation (PESCO)
Strategic Review and, once this had
been defined, they approved some
conclusions that assess the progress
made and provide guidance for the
next phase (2021-2025) on the overall
aim, projects, strategic goals
and incentives to give PESCO
greater political momentum
and increase the degree of
transparency between Member
States.
The review highlights a list
of 26 projects that will deliver
concrete results or reach full
operational capability before the
end of 2025 (including Military
Mobility, European Medical
Command and the Spanishled
Strategic Command and
Control for CSDP Missions
and Operations).
To date 25 EU Member
States have undertaken
binding commitments that form
the basis of PESCO. There
are currently 46 collaborative
projects in various areas:
training facilities, land
formation systems, maritime
and air systems, cybersecurity,
and enabling joint multiple
services or space projects.
Spain participates in 24
projects and ranks third, only
behind France and Italy, in
terms of the participation of
its companies and institutions
in projects of military interest
financed by the European
Union (EU). In addition to the
Command and Control project, it
is leading another one on Airborne
Electronic Attack.
The Review approved by the
ministers asserts that “PESCO is a
powerful tool which, acknowledging
the single set of forces principle,
can make a difference in increasing
defence investments, enhancing the
joint development of capabilities
and improving the availability of
deployable and interoperable forces”.
In this regard, the document approved
by the ministers also points out that
the objectives set will enable PESCO
to “contribute to the fulfilment of the
EU’s Level of Ambition defined by
Member States in the context of the
Strategic Compass”. Another new
aspect of the Review suggests that
it should “explore ways to improve
the financing of military missions
and operations in the context of the
EPF Council Decision, in particular
regarding the deployment of EU
Battlegroups and, in due course, of
the deployment of critical capabilities,
based on lessons learned from ongoing
missions and operations”.
Finally, the conclusions of the
PESCO Strategic Review also
approve the general conditions
under which non-EU countries may
exceptionally be invited to participate
in individual PESCO projects, and
which were defined a few
days earlier at the meeting of
the EU Military Committee
held on 5 November.
According to the agreed
requirements, non-EU states
may be invited to participate
if they meet a number of
political, substantive and legal
conditions. For instance, the
country applying for a project
must share the values on
which the EU is founded, must
not contravene the security
and defence interests of the
EU or its Member States,
and must sign an agreement
on the exchange of classified
information with the EU.
In practice, after a third state
submits a request to participate
in a specific PESCO project, EU
countries will need to agree by
unanimity whether the request
complies with all conditions and
notify the Council and the High
Representative accordingly.
It is the Council’s ultimate
responsibility to take the final
decision as to whether the
participation of the third state in
the project meets the necessary
conditions.
Rosa Ruiz
EMAD
he Strategic Compass will address four interconnected areas,
including EU missions and operations.
April 2021 Revista Española de Defensa 49