Germany, France to deepen defence cooperation

Germany and France agreed on Thursday to deepen military cooperation in areas ranging from satellites and missile defence to arms procurement, aiming to extract maximum value from shrinking defence budgets.

The agreement, signed by the two governments in Paris on Thursday, highlights Europe’s drive to reduce costly duplication in defence and achieve economies of scale as it struggles to cut spending and tame its sovereign debt crisis.

A copy of the declaration of intent was seen by Reuters before the signing at the Eurosatory arms show near Paris.

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