Paris 19 May (ANA)  - EU member states will pay for joint military 'projects' in a move previously opposed by Britain, a senior EU official has revealed. The cash would form part of Franco-German efforts to develop a more integrated European defence to respond to threats on Europe's borders. Nineteen countries including France, Germany, Italy and Spain will start talks next month on the so-called Cooperative Financial Mechanism, or CFM, which could be running sometime next year, said the Brussels official in a briefing to EU defence ministers. Britain, which has voted to leave the bloc, had long opposed such defence integration, fearing the development of an EU army. The fund, whose monies would be owned by national governments, would be the third part of a financing plan involving a proposed research facility led by the European Commission, the EU executive, and money from the EU's common budget for defence. The amount of money in the fund has yet to be set and contributions would be voluntary, the official said, but it would allow countries to borrow from it as long as they repaid at a later date. The Commission could also pay into the fund.(ANA)

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