'Weimar Triangle' Urges Deeper EU Defense Integration

The Weimar Triangle has called for a boost of EU defense cooperation. Map by Wikipedia

France, Germany, and Poland, the countries of the so called "Weimar Triangle", have issued a call for enhanced EU defense cooperation.

In a letter to EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Catherine Ashton cited by international media, France, Germany and Poland declare their support for transnational combat units, among other policies for closer EU defense integration and for stronger defense ties between NATO and the EU. Ashton is also in charge of the European Defense Agency, a body designed to coordinate EU defense cooperation.

"We see a specific need to improve our capacities to plan and to conduct operations and missions, to strengthen cooperation among our militaries and to create synergies in times of scarce resources, taking due care for complementarily with national and NATO planning capacities... Germany, Poland and France will enhance their cooperation within the Battlegroup which they are to provide in the first half of 2013," the letter states.

Earlier in December EU states agreed to boost defense integration as a measure against the impact of the financial crisis but the UK blocked a motion to increase the budget of the European Defense Agency.

In November, the UK and France agreed on a bilateral deal to form a joint military force and share equipment and nuclear missile research centers in order to save money; however, the deal is outside the framework of the EU Common Security and Defense Policy.

The Weimar Triangle is a loose grouping of France, Germany and Poland that exists in the form of trilateral summits.

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