At an informal meeting on Wednesday 26 August in Berlin, the European Defence Ministers will discuss the creation of the strategic compass, improvement of the EU’s operational contributions and the European defence and security culture after the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a first working session in the presence of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the ministers will discuss operational cooperation between the EU, NATO and the UN.
“We will focus on capacity building for our partners, in particular through training missions”, a senior European official said on 25 August.
The three organisations share several areas of operation, for example in the Central African Republic with UN Minusca and the EU missions EUAM RCA and EUTM RCA, or in Mali with Minusma and EUTM Mali.
The development of an arrangement for exchanging information and working effectively at sea between the EU’s Irini and NATO’s Sea Guardian operations in the Mediterranean may also be discussed, as could the future European Peace Facility.
And while the situation in the eastern Mediterranean and the tensions between two Allies - Turkey and Greece - are not on the agenda, delegations could take advantage of Mr Stoltenberg’s presence to raise the subject.
The European ministers will then discuss the future strategic compass of the EU and how the Union could be more effective in the four main areas of action covered by this compass: crisis management, resilience, capabilities and partnerships (see EUROPE 12509/13).
The European senior official noted that this compass, which should be adopted in the first half of 2022, will be a “strategic and political document for the next five to ten years, setting out not only the doctrine, but also what we want to do together”.
Finally, over dinner, the ministers will discuss the European defence and security culture in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the aim of having a more resilient, more united and more cohesive Europe.
Furthermore, as a complement to this meeting, the seventh meeting of defence ministers of the countries participating in the Framework Nations Concept (FNC) will be held in Berlin on 27 August. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)