User:Ssolbergj/sandboxpesco

The Secretariat of the Permanent Structured Cooperation is the centralised body of the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) that consists of the European Defence Agency (EDA) and the European External Action Service (EEAS). The secretariat is thereby under the responsibility of the High Representative (HR/VP), who is head of both the EDA and the EEAS. The Military Staff (EUMS) is a directorate-general of the EEAS, and plays a major role in the secretariat. In addition to the Council of the European Union, the secretariat provides a single point of contact for matters related to PESCO.

Workings
The EEAS, including the EUMS, supports the functioning of PESCO in by:
 * contributing to the High Representative’s assessment, in his or her annual report on PESCO, of participating Member States’ contributions with regard to operational aspects;
 * coordinating the assessment of project proposals, notably in the areas of availability, interoperability, flexibility and deployability of forces. In particular, the EEAS, including the EUMS, assess proposed projects’ compliance with, and their contribution to, operational needs.

The EDA, for its part, supports PESCO in particular by:
 * contributing to the High Representative’s assessment, in his or her annual report on PESCO, of participating Member States’ contributions with regard to capabilities, in particular contributions made in accordance with the more binding commitments;
 * facilitating capability development projects, in particular coordinating the assessment of projects proposals, notably in the area of capability development. In particular, EDA shall support Member States in ensuring that there is no unnecessary duplication with existing initiatives also in other institutional contexts.

The PESCO Secretariat has also set up a web-based tool to support participating member states in sharing information on current and proposed PESCO projects. Based on the EDA’s Collaborative Database (CODABA), the workspace is a user-friendly software which enables easy contributions from Member States and provides a collaborative platform for information exchange. On the one hand, it allows PESCO participating Member States to publish their own projects and project proposals, and to express interest in those of other Member States, thus promoting cooperation. On the other hand, it provides the assessment of project proposals and NIPs carried out by the PESCO Secretariat.