The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday 15 December that the fight against climate change could be a subject for cooperation between the Commission and the Alliance.
“Fighting climate change is one of the EU’s top priorities, and we know that global warming has already caused serious geopolitical shifts”, von der Leyen told the press in a statement before the European College of Commissioners, who were welcoming a NATO Secretary General for the first time.
“I agree with you that climate change is an area where we should look into what we can do together. Global warming and climate change is a crisis multiplier, and NATO has to address its security implications”, said Mr Stoltenberg.
More generally, the Presidency and the Secretary General underlined their commitment to strengthening the EU-NATO partnership, the latter considering his presence at the College as an example of the unprecedented level of cooperation between the two organisations.
“We can do more. We can be more strategic and we can prioritise better”, the Commission President said, before adding that “there is a lot of potential to reenergise the partnership between the European Commission and NATO”. “We have a unique opportunity to strengthen and reenergise the transatlantic bond, and I firmly believe that we need to work together”, confirmed Mr Stoltenberg.
According to Mrs von der Leyen and Mr Stoltenberg, two areas where cooperation could be further strengthened are cybersecurity, including the fight against disinformation, and resilience. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)