As a rule, the European Union doesn't do defence. At most, it messes around at the margin. In 1999, it promised to set up a 60,000-strong rapid-reaction force. When this turned out to be not much of a force, several countries promised 1,500-strong bat-tlegroups, ready to jet off on peacekeeping missions at a drop of a blue helmet. What eu countries have never done is to club together to spend money on defence. That could be about to change. In one of the least-trumpeted big ideas of recent years, the head of France's national armaments agency has called for a ?200m ($240m) programme in which eu countries would collaborate on basic research and technology in defence. The programme would be run by the European Defence Agency, an offshoot of the eu's bureaucracy. France's defence minister will formally put the plan to a gathering of European defence ministers next month.
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