Warsaw, 08/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - On the sidelines of the NATO summit in Warsaw on Friday 8 July, the European Union and NATO committed in a joint statement to giving new momentum and new content to their “strategic partnership”. The joint statement sets new areas for practical cooperation.
The statement was signed at a ceremony attended by European Council President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. It sets the framework for future cooperation, tasking High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and Stoltenberg to present concrete positions to members of the two organisations by December 2016.
The proposals will have to fall within the seven areas identified in the statement. The first area concerns coordination to respond to threats of a hybrid nature, essentially determining “who does what, when and how”, as one NATO leader said, be this with regard to strategic communication or the protection of so-called critical civil infrastructure. Sharing information will play a key role.
The statement then speaks of increased cooperation at operational level, highlighting maritime security and the migration challenge. On Saturday 9 June, the allies are expected to commit at the summit in Warsaw to soon proposing support for the EU's naval operation in the central Mediterranean (EUNAVFOR Med Sophia).
The EU and NATO would also like: - to foster joint work on cybersecurity; - coherence in the development of defence capability, particularly with multilateral projects; - to support industrial cooperation within Europe and between the two sides of the Atlantic; - to coordinate their exercises for 2017 and 2018; - to provide for complementary actions to strengthen the resilience of third-country partners (for further detail, see Europe Diplomacy and Defence, EDD 906). (Original version in French by Jan Kordys)