17 projects adopted in 3 areas PESCO assessment process 12/2017 - 12/2019

On 6 March 2018, the Council adopted a roadmap for the implementation of the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO). This roadmap provides strategic direction and guidance on how to structure further work on both processes and governance, including for projects and in relation to the sequencing of the fulfilment of commitments.

In this regard, it sets out a calendar for the review and assessment process of the national implementation plans which detail how participating member states plan to fulfil the more binding commitments they have made to one another.

It also provides a timeline for agreement on possible future projects, as well as the main tenets of a common set of governance rules for projects to be adopted by the Council by the end of June 2018.

The Council also adopted a decision formally establishing the initial list of 17 collaborative projects, which were agreed politically in December 2017. The projects cover areas such as training, capability development and operational readiness in the field of defence.

The 25 member states participating in PESCO are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden.