EU Senior Foreign and Security Representative Josep Borrell (left) talks to French Defense Minister Florence Parly (right) during a meeting of EU defense ministers in Brussels on May 6, 2021 (Photo: AP)

This is the first time, since the launch of PESCO in 2017, that non-EU countries will join a PESCO project.

German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer called the move “a quantum leap in terms of concrete cooperation,” adding that making sure that troops can be moved across borders within Europe is very important not only for the EU but also for NATO.

EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the project will increase EU’s defense capacity.