EU countries agreed on Wednesday to provide €300 million in funding for five major collaborative EU defence projects involving air defence and surveillance of the eastern flank, EFE reports.

The EU ambassadors reached a political agreement on the first European Defence Projects of Common Interest (EDPCI) proposed by the European Commission on 3 July, a spokesperson for the Irish presidency of the Council of the EU said.

The decision is expected to be formally adopted at the meeting of the EU Defence Ministers’ Council scheduled for 28 September in Brussels.

The decision responds to the European Council’s June 2026 call for the rapid completion of procedures for EDPCI and ‘demonstrates tangible progress in strengthening European defence capabilities through joint development and investment’, the spokesperson said, although the Spanish news agency did not identify him.

He explained that Wednesday’s decision followed assessments carried out by the European Defence Agency, the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the European Commission, and would give the green light to five projects for their official establishment as EDPCIs.

These projects address urgent strategic gaps in key areas such as air defence, maritime security, space, drone-related capabilities and counter-drone operations, as well as surveillance of the EU’s eastern flank.

Each project is expected to receive €60 million in funding, mainly from the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP).

They are also expected to receive additional funding from the future European Competitiveness Fund, currently under negotiation for the next multiannual budget for 2028–2034.

These projects constitute the first batch of EDPCIs, and a second call for proposals is planned before the end of April next year.

‘Ensuring that EDPCIs are genuinely pan-European initiatives will be essential to promoting industrial cooperation across the Union, reducing market fragmentation and strengthening Europe’s defence industrial base,’ the Irish presidency of the Council of the EU said.

The initiative provides a framework for EU countries to work together on major defence initiatives that are too large or too complex to be undertaken by a single Member State.

As the European Commission explained in July, the five selected projects – DECODER, IMSD, SPACE, EU-FIAMD and Eastern Flank Watch (EFW) – chosen from nine proposals, are designed to strengthen the EU’s technological sovereignty, interoperability and military capabilities through the joint development and procurement of systems in areas such as drones, maritime defence, space, air defence and eastern flank security.

These projects bring together between 15 and 26 Member States, with Norway and Ukraine participating – Ukraine is involved in all the projects except the space one – and will mobilise estimated investments of between €3.5 billion and €100 billion per project through the 2036–2045 period.

Source: AGERPRES