23 EU member states (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden) signed a joint notification and handed it over to HR/VP Federica Mogherini and the Council of the EU on moving forward to the creation of a Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) in the fields of defence policy and defence security. The signing of a joint notification was a first obliged step in order to set a list of commitments and principles towards the actual implementation of the PESCO, including regularly increasing the budget allowed to defence. This first step was welcomed by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who stated that “[he] believe[s] that we need to take more seriously the provisions of the existing Treaty that allow those European countries who want to do this to progressively build up a common European defence.” The PESCO was introduced by the 2007 Lisbon Treaty and its implementation would allow member states to cooperate in the framework of a permanent structure on security and defence-related issues. Next step will be the adoption by the Council of the EU of a decision by reinforced qualified majority. The voting would take place on 11 December.