Collective defense is suddenly a hot topic at EU summit
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Talk of joint efforts to defend Europe is on the lips of EU leaders after decades of leaving collective security mostly to the United States and NATO.
Nobody is suggesting a joint European army, with thousands of tanks and combat planes displaying the EU's star-studded logo.
But at a summit in the Slovak capital on Friday, heads of 27 countries named common defense as one of the goals needed to bring the bloc forward.
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Declared French President Francois Hollande, "There is no continent, there is no union, if there is no defense."
The EU's Lisbon Treaty, which took effect in 2009, foresaw a mechanism for permanent defense cooperation inside the bloc.
But squabbles among member states have kept the topic in the background at most previous meetings of European leaders.