NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met for the first time, on Thursday 28 April, with the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament’s political groups, as well as with the Chairs of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Parliament’s Delegation for relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
“This shows EU and transatlantic unity”, stressed the European Parliament President, Roberta Metsola, adding that the EU and NATO share the same challenges and goals. She said she hoped that cooperation and coordination between NATO and the European Parliament would continue to grow.
“Cooperation between NATO and the EU has always been important, but it is even more so today when our core values are being challenged by the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is even more important that the EU and NATO stand together”, Mr Stoltenberg added.
According to an internal parliamentary document, the discussions included Finland and Sweden’s membership of NATO. Both countries may apply for formal membership in the near future. “Finland and Sweden are already very close to NATO. We train together, we exercise together and we work together”, said Mr Stoltenberg. According to him, the armed forces of both countries meet Alliance standards and are interoperable with NATO forces. The Secretary General said that he was confident that it would be possible to find arrangements for the interim period until the accession process was finalised, which he envisaged would be soon.
Mr Stoltenberg and MEPs also discussed the EU’s ‘Strategic Compass’, the defence industry and military spending, the need to strengthen the Alliance, the role of Turkey, nuclear risks, diplomatic discussions with Russia, lessons learned from the departure of the Allies from Afghanistan and the NATO summit at the end of June in Madrid. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)