Brussels wants money for weapons

brussels - The Member States of the European Union should stabbing money in the joint development and purchasing of weapons. A yet to be established European Defence Fund could be spent on eg drones, helicopters and ships term annual 5 billion.

The European Commission presented Wednesday an action plan for European defense allowing Member States to use their money more efficiently. If countries do less on your own purchases, that could care annually between 25 and 100 billion euros. They can borrow for joint procurement by the Fund. This also applies to groups of Member States.

The committee wants to continue the annual research budget, for example electronics, encryption or robotics to 2020 will amount to 90 million per year. Thereafter, Brussels think of half a billion euros annually.

' It is a strong and credible European role on the world stage and a powerful defense industry in Europe, 'EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini summed up the proposal together. Also benefit their start-ups and SMEs.

President Jean-Claude Juncker announced the Defense Fund in September. According to him, only Europe can provide its own security. Partly because of the Russian threat, the brexit and the election of Donald Trump gave EU countries last month ahead for closer military cooperation.

The proposals are not a prelude to a European army, so Wednesday was again emphasized. Defense remains a matter for Member States.