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The European Unionon Wednesdayrevealed a new defense fund it said it will be used to build advanced technologies like drones or robotics, following pressure from the United States to increase military spending,The Associated Pressreported.

The fund would put $563 million of the EUs money in 2019 and 2020 toward buying and developing military equipment, and double the amount to$1.13 billion annually after 2020, according to the European Commission.

The money would only be granted if a minimum of three companies from at least two EU member countries take part, but the commission says it expects the money to generate about five times the amount it puts in once contributions are made.

The new fund comes after President Trump last month scolded NATO members for not paying their fair share on defense during a ceremony at the alliances new headquarters in Brussels.

NATO members must finally contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations, he said to a crowd that included other European leaders.

Trump has repeatedly called out NATO allies to boost their military budgets, demanding that the countries meet their pledges to spend 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense.

The commission said the problem is that defense budgets are not well spent and more than$28 billion is lost every year through poor cooperation.

Two percent of GDP spent separately provides less security than if part of the money is used jointly, European Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen told reporters.

As important as the amount of money, is how to use it.

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European Union launches new defense fund - The Hill

The European Commission and the High Representative/Vice President Federica Mogherini presented today how the European Union aims to support states, societies, communities and individuals in adapting to growing and increasingly long-term pressures. This is one the priorities guiding the EU's external action as presented by the EU Global Strategy.

The European Union's unique contribution to stability in the Sahel region is a good example of this resilience approach: European humanitarian aid helps to manage the immediate crisis of displaced people, while our development cooperation tackles the longer-term root causes of poverty, by supporting complementary actions for job creation, access to education, governance, health and climate mitigation. In addition, the EU is a security provider to the region. The HR/VP just announced 50 million of support to the G5 Sahel Joint force, with the aim to fight terrorism and enhance cross-border cooperation. All of these actions support the resilience of the region.

Handling disruptive pressures and shocks has become the new normal across the world. It is beyond the power of any individual state to confront today's demographic, climate change, environmental or migratory challenges, as well as the unpredictable consequences of economic shocks, conflict and violent extremism.

High Representative/Vice President Federica Mogherini said: "One fourth of the world's population lives in fragile States or societies. We want to prevent these fragile situations from turning into new wars, new humanitarian catastrophes, or new refugee crises. This is what we call resilience. This Communication will help us coordinate an impressive set of different tools, that only the European Union can mobilise: from humanitarian aid to incentives for private investments, from climate action to military missions. It is a forward-looking, truly integrated approach - the only one that can work, in the complex world of today. It is the European way to peace, security and human development".

There is a pressing need to move away from crisis containment to a more structural and long-term approach to vulnerabilities. The strategy puts a strong emphasis on anticipation, prevention and preparedness, aiming to work along three linked lines:

- Expanded assistance for partner countries' resilience The EU will continue to support domestic efforts of partner countries to become more resilient, with the help of broadened political, development and humanitarian support. This includes strengthening inclusive and participatory societies, alleviating long-lasting crises or preventing violent conflict. It will also take into account the vulnerabilities and needs of forcibly displaced people, while also recognising the positive contribution of migrants to inclusive growth and sustainable development.

- Policy dialogue and bilateral initiatives: The EU can draw upon significant experience of addressing complex domestic policy challenges and enhancing resilience. Examples of this include its work on energy security, climate adaptation, economic and social policy or addressing global health risks. Having invested heavily in research on resilience, the European Union is ready to share these insights with its international partners.

- Resilience and the security of the Union : Internal and external security dimensions of EU policy have to be closely integrated, in order to strengthen our response to hybrid threats, cyber-security, the security of critical infrastructure, terrorism and violent extremism. The European Union proposes to strengthen work on countering external disinformation strategies, as well as to further develop cooperation with NATO and the OSCE. In line with these priorities, the EU has for example stepped up its funding to 300 million for projects aimed at preventing and countering violent extremism and has deployed counter-terrorism experts in a number of key countries.

The European Union and its Member States are subject to many of the same pressures, which also challenge the resilience of its external partners and expose their vulnerabilities. European external policy has a strong role to play also in ensuring the resilience within the borders of the EU. This comes at a time when the Union has a greater responsibility than ever before to contribute to the security of its citizens.

Background:

The EU has over the past few years established an ambitious and transformative agenda for its external action. These include the foreign and security policy aims set out in the EU Global Strategy, international development and humanitarian goals agreed under the UN's Agenda 2030, and commitments under the Paris Climate accord.

The Joint Communication is part of the follow-up to the Global Strategy for the EU's Foreign and Security Policy, which Federica Mogherini presented to European leaders in June last year. The High Representative will present a report on the first year of implementation of the Strategy to EU Heads of State or Government and Foreign Ministers later in June.

For more information:

Factsheet: Joint Communication on "A Strategic Approach to Resilience in the EU's External Action"

Joint Communication to the European Parliament and the Council "A Strategic Approach to Resilience in the EU's External Action"

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EU presents its strategy for more resilient states and societies around the world - EU News

ZAGREB - European Union could face great political and economic consequences after Brexit, but it would also be able to increase the connectivity among 27 remaining states while trying to resolve the issues of migrant and debt crisis which has a severe impact on the south of Europe.

How will the EU be able to answer these questions and how will they affect the Croatias position in the EU, will be topics of the roundtable Future of the European Union after Brexit.

Speakers at the panel EU after Brexit: more or less Europe will be Head of the European Commission in Croatia Branko Barievi, MEP Tonino Picula, Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee in the Parliament of Croatia Miro Kova, Minister Assistant at the Directorate for European Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia Zrinka Ujevi and professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Zagreb Luka Brki.

Secretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs Zdravka Bui, MEP eljana Zovko, Chief Political Adviser to the Prime Minister of Montenegro Aleksandar Erakovi and Professor of Political Science at the University of Zagreb Zoran Kureli will speak at the panel regarding the relations between Croatia and the Western Balkans.

The roundtable will be held at the Representation of the European Commission in Zagreb on Wednesday, June 8. The event is organised by the Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO) and the Representation of the European Commission in Croatia.

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Roundtable Future of the European Union after Brexit to be held in Zagreb - European Western Balkans (press release)

The European Union and its Member States signed today a strategic blueprint, outlining the future of European development policy. This "New European Consensus on Development" represents a new collective vision and plan of action to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development.

Brussels, 7 June 2017 The jointly developed strategy, in the form of a Joint Statement, was signed today during the annual two-day European Development Days by the Prime Minister of Malta, Joseph Muscat, on behalf of the Council and Member States, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, the High Representative/Vice President, Federica Mogherini, and the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani.

The new European Consensus on Development constitutes a comprehensive common framework for European development cooperation. For the first time, it applies in its entirety to all European Union Institutions and all Member States, which commit to work more closely together.

The new Consensus strongly reaffirms that poverty eradication remains the primary objective of European development policy. It fully integrates the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. In doing so, it aligns European development action with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which is also a cross-cutting dimension for the EU Global Strategy. European leaders committed to three areas:

1. They recognise the strong interlinkages between the different elements of such action. This includes development and peace and security, humanitarian aid, migration, environment and climate, as well as cross cutting-elements, such as: youth; gender equality; mobility and migration; sustainable energy and climate change; investment and trade; good governance, democracy, the rule of law and human rights; innovative engagement with more advanced developing countries; and mobilising and using domestic resources.

2. The new Consensus furthermore takes a comprehensive approach to means of implementation, combining traditional development aid with other resources, as well as sound policies and a strengthened approach to policy coherence, recalling that EU development cooperation always has to be seen in the context of Europe's partner countries' own efforts. The Consensus provides the basis for the EU and its Member States to engage in more innovative forms of development financing, leveraging private sector investments and mobilising additional domestic resources for development.

3. The EU and its Member States will create better-tailored partnerships with a broader range of stakeholders, including civil society, and partner countries at all stages of development. They will further improve their implementation on the ground by working better together and taking into account their respective comparative advantages.

Background

Europe is a global leader in development, being the world's biggest provider of Official Development Assistance. The new European Consensus on Development was agreed jointly by all European Institutions and all EU Member States in an open and transparent manner, also in consultation with other partners. It is the EU's response to today's global trends and challenges, aligning EU external action to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The 2030 Agenda was adopted by the international community in September 2015, and includes at its core the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and associated targets, which run to 2030. Along with the other international summits and conferences held in 2015 in Addis Ababa and in Paris, the international community has an ambitious new frame for all countries to work together on shared challenges. For the first time, the SDGs are universally applicable to all countries and the EU is committed to be a frontrunner in implementing them.

On 22 November 2016, the European Commission proposed its ideas for a strategic approach for achieving sustainable development in Europe and around the world, including a Commission proposal for a new Consensus. Since then the European Parliament, the Council under the Maltese Presidency, and the Commission have engaged in an intensive series of inter-institutional discussions aimed at agreeing to a new collective vision for development policy which responds to the 2030 Agenda and other global challenges.

Europe is a frontrunner when it comes to sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda, through external and other policies.

For More Information

A Joint Statement by the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, the President of the Council of the European Union, Joseph Muscat, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy / Vice-President of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini

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The new European Consensus on Development EU and Member States sign joint strategy to eradicate poverty - Reliefweb

Theresa May will fail to secure a comprehensive free trade agreement with the rest of the EU by 2019 in a development that would mean a destructive cliff-edge Brexit for the UK, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has predicted.

In its latest Global Economic Outlookreport, the Paris-based multilateral economic organisation has upgraded its 2017 GDP growth forecast for the UK to 1.6 per cent, up from 1.2 per cent last November.

But it is still anticipating a sharp slowdown in UK growth to just 1 per cent in 2018.

This projection critically assumes that 'most favoured nation' treatment will govern UK trade after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union in 2019," the OECD says, referencing a description of the way that countries must trade with each other under minimal World Trade Organisation rules.

In her Lancaster House speech in January, Theresa May said that she wanted to conclude a a new, comprehensive, bold and ambitious free trade agreementwith the rest of the EU.

The Prime Minister also signalled her willingness to agree a transitionaldeal post 2019, which would allow trade to carry on unimpeded while such an overarching free trade agreement was concluded.

But she also warned that no deal is better than a bad deal, implying that she could also walk away from the negotiating deal and that the UK could crash out of the EUs single market and customs union with no new agreement in place.

That latter threat was also contained in the Conservative manifesto.

The WTO outcome would imply, among many other things, 10 per cent tariffs on UK car exports to the EU, tight quotas on agricultural exports and an abrupt end to the right of UK financial firms to operate in Europe.

The OECDs baseline assumption is that this is what materialises and also that the UK has no other new free trade deals with other non-EU countries in place by 2019.

It said that the channels through which this would likely adversely impact the UK economy next year were through weaker household consumption, confidence and investment.

The major risk for the economy is the uncertainty surrounding the exit process from the European Union. Higher uncertainty could hamper domestic and foreign investment more than projected,the OECD writes.

Catherine Mann, the OECDs chief economist, told The Independent that it was sticking with the same WTO Brexit outcome it used in previous UK forecasts made since last June's referendum.

Discussions regarding the nature of trade modalities, the timetable for any deal, as well as interim agreements are ongoing between the UK and the EU.We continue with the same assumption of WTO 'Most Favoured Nation' basis, as in our previous projections." she said.

The overwhelming majority of economists expect that a cliff-edge Brexit would be highly damaging for the UK economy.

Researchers from the London School of Economics estimate that it would cost 2.6 per cent of GDP by 2020, rising to 9.5 per cent by 2030.

The one detailed study that argues trading on WTO rules post 2019 would boost the UK economy has been severely criticised as methodologically flawed and making wildly implausible assumptions.

Business groups have warned loudly about the catastrophic impact of a "no deal" Brexit, with the CBI president Paul Dreschlersayingit would open Pandora's boxfor firms.

In its latest report, theOECD also argues that Britain needs a major increase in infrastructure spending, something more in line with Labour's manifesto pledges than the Conservatives'.

"Higher investment in transport infrastructure, in particular in less productive regions, would improve connectivity and the diffusion of knowledge," the OECD says.

Labour's manifesto also promises a free trade agreement with the EU and explicitly rejects "no deal" as a viable option.

The UK's GDP growth slowed to just 0.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2017, well down from the 0.7 per cent expansion in the final quarter of 2016.

This was the joint slowest quarterly expansion of any G7 country, alongside Italy, although growth is expected to pick up somewhat in the following quarter.

Responding to the OECD report, SirVince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said: Voters should listen to this eve of poll warning on the major economic risk posed by Theresa Mays reckless approach to Brexit.

"The hardline approach [she] has taken, insisting that no deal is better than a bad deal and planning to take us out of the single market, will seriously damage opportunities and jobs for years to come. The Liberal Democrats will fight to keep Britain in the single market and customs union, and to ensure the people have the final say on the Brexit deal.

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Theresa May will fail to deliver EU trade deal in 2019 and UK heading for cliff-edge Brexit, OECD predicts - The Independent