DEFENSE ministers from nine members of the European Union met in Luxembourg on Monday to sign up on a joint European military intervention, an initiative led by France and backed by Britain as it seeks to maintain defense ties after Brexit.

A letter of intent on the so-called European Intervention Initiative (EII) was signed Monday by France, Germany, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Estonia, Spain and Portugal, media reported.

French Defense Minister Florence Parly tweeted Monday that the objective of the EII was for “our forces to learn to know each other and act together.” “We will be ready to anticipate crises and respond quickly and usefully,” she added.

In an interview published Sunday evening in the French newspaper Le Figaro, she said that Italy was still considering joining the first nine countries to sign on, though Rome has taken a step back from its initial support for the initiative since the election of its new government.

As an initiative established outside both EU and NATO frameworks, the EII would allow co-signatories to react to situations near Europe’s borders without the need for support from the United States.

The French Defense Ministry has indicated that the EII would involve “work on joint planning on scenarios for potential crises able to threaten European security,” such as natural disasters, mass evacuations of citizens, and other events.

The European Intervention Initiative was first proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron in a September 2017 speech, but it was met with skepticism given recent EU decisions to create frameworks for Common European Defense, such as the PESCO agreement, as well as recent decisions by NATO to revamp and reinforce its operations and capabilities in Europe.  (Xinhua)