NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg arrives at the EU headquarters for an EU Summit in Brussels, Belgium, Dec. 14, 2017. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan)
BRUSSELS, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday said he "welcomed a stronger European defense."
Speaking to reporters ahead of the EU summit, Stoltenberg said, "I welcome the initiative to strengthen European defense because I believe that will be good for the European Union, for Europe and for NATO."
Stoltenberg said EU's PESCO initiative can provide more capabilities, more defense spending and fairer burden sharing within the alliance.
He highlighted the coherence between capability developments of NATO and the EU, and "the importance of complementarity and not competition between NATO and the EU."
EU leaders are expected to welcome the launch of the permanent structured cooperation (PESCO), an instrument to enable willing EU members to pursue greater cooperation in defense and security during the two-day summit starting Thursday.
A total of 25 EU members have confirmed their participation in PESCO.
