ANNEX List of ambitious and more binding common commitments undertaken by participating Member States in the five areas set out by Article 2 of Protocol 10 “a) cooperate, as from the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, with a view to achieving approved objectives concerning the level of investment expenditure on defence equipment, and regularly review these objectives, in the light of the security environment and of the Union’s international responsibilities.” Based on the collective benchmarks identified in 2007, participating Member States subscribe to the following commitments: 1. Regularly increasing defence budgets in real terms, in order to reach agreed objectives. 2. Successive medium-term increase in defence investment expenditure to 20 % of total defence spending (collective benchmark) in order to fill strategic capability gaps by participating in defence capabilities projects in accordance with CDP and Coordinated Annual Review (CARD). 3. Increasing joint and “collaborative” strategic defence capabilities projects. Such joint and collaborative projects should be supported through the European Defence Fund if required and as appropriate. 14866/17 ANNEX JU/jk DGC 1C 1 EN