EU launches defence pact with submarine drones

BRUSSELS: The EU unveiled on Monday a raft of new joint defence projects including submarine drones and cyber attack rapid response teams as it launched a landmark pact on boosting military cooperation.

Twenty-five countries — all of the EU member states except Denmark, Malta and Britain, which is leaving the bloc — have signed up for the pact, known as permanent structured cooperation on defence (PESCO). It aims to get EU states to coordinate better on defence projects, including the development of new weapons, as Russia flexes its muscles to the east and the bloc seeks a reboot after Brexit.

EU states are also set to sign off on the 1.5 billion euro a year European Defence Fund (EDF) on Tuesday, the bloc’s executive arm said. “She is awake, the Sleeping Beauty of the Lisbon Treaty,” European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said in a statement.