PESCO — Permanent Structured Cooperation

PESCO is a framework and a process to strengthen defence cooperation between those EU Member States who are capable and willing to do so. 25 Member States have joined PESCO and agreed to invest, plan, develop and operate defence capabilities more together, within this framework. Currently, Denmark and Malta are not in the PESCO framework.

The objective of PESCO, which was introduced by Articles 42(6) and 46 of the Treaty on European Union and Protocol 10, is for the Member States concerned to jointly arrive at a coherent full range of defence capabilities available to them for national and multinational (EU, NATO, United Nations, etc.) missions and operations. PESCO was formally set up in 2017 by Council Decision (CFSP) 2017/2315.

PESCO is designed to:

• enhance the EU’s capabilities in international security;
• contribute to protecting EU citizens;
• maximise the effectiveness of defence spending.

While participation is voluntary, decision-making remains in the hands of individual Member States and the specific character of their security and defence policies is taken into account.

Participating Member States develop projects working together to:

• enhance military training and exercises;
• jointly strengthen their capabilities, including in cyberspace.

SEE ALSO

• Collective defence
• Common foreign and security policy (CFSP)
• Common security and defence policy (CSDP)
• Member States
• NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation)
• The European Union’s external action
• Common foreign and security policy — Global strategy (summary)
• Permanent structured cooperation on defence and security (PESCO) (summary)
• The EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (summary)
• About PESCO (PESCO).