{"id":27696,"date":"2020-02-04T16:05:46","date_gmt":"2020-02-04T16:05:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/02\/04\/brexit-turns-up-the-heat-on-access-rules-to-eu-defense-coffers\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T20:56:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:56:26","slug":"brexit-turns-up-the-heat-on-access-rules-to-eu-defense-coffers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2020\/02\/04\/brexit-turns-up-the-heat-on-access-rules-to-eu-defense-coffers\/","title":{"rendered":"Brexit turns up the heat on access rules to EU defense coffers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

COLOGNE, Germany \u2014 European leaders should modify rules to include Britain and the United States in their defense-cooperation efforts, ending a simmering dispute that could turn toxic over time, according to the director general of the European Union Military Staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will find a way [on] how to engage the United States and other third-party states,\u201d Lt. Gen. Esa Pulkkinen told Defense News in an interview in Washington last week. But he cautioned that the unresolved issue could become a \u201cpermanent\u201d thorn in the side of relations with the United States, in particular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At issue are the conditions for access to the multibillion-dollar European Defence Fund and its associated collaboration scheme, the Permanent Structured Cooperation, or PESCO. The funds are meant to nurse the nascent defense capabilities of the continent\u2019s member states, with the idea that NATO would be strengthened in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials have left the door open for the U.K., which recently left the EU, as well as its defense companies to partake in individual projects, given the country\u2019s importance as a key European provider of military capabilities. But the exact terms have yet to be spelled out, requiring a balancing act between framing member states as primary PESCO beneficiaries while providing a way in for key allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defense officials in Washington previously criticized the EU initiative, complaining that it would needlessly shut out American contractors. European leaders countered that the program is first and foremost meant to streamline the bloc\u2019s disparate military capabilities, stressing that avenues for trans-Atlantic cooperation exist elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEDF and PESCO isn\u2019t everything in the world,\u201d Pulkkinen said in Washington. \u201cWe are not going to violate any U.S. defense industrial interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe defense industry is already so globalized, they will find a way [on] how to work together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t