The Portuguese Defence Minister, João Gomes Cravinho, and the Slovenian Defence Minister, Matej Tonin, said on Friday 23 April that Russia’s current aggressive attitude poses a threat to the EU.
“Russia’s attitude is a threat to the EU”, Cravinho said after an informal meeting of EU defence ministers on the ‘strategic compass’.
“The way Russia is acting and behaving is absolutely a threat to EU”, Tonin added. According to him, “Russia is our adversary. The only medicine for Russia is European unity; this can solve many problems”, he added. The Slovenian minister, whose country will hold the Presidency of the EU Council in the second half of 2021, said that this unity could also make it easier to negotiate with Russia.
At their meeting, the ministers discussed the future ‘strategic compass’. They will return to this subject on 6 May at their EU Council meeting, where the discussion will focus on the ‘crisis management’ pillar, and then at their informal meeting on 28 May. The aim is to adopt this ‘strategic compass’ in March 2022.
The ‘compass’ should set out a vision for the next ten years, according to Cravinho. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)