After 2016 and 2018, representatives of the European Union and NATO signed their third joint declaration on Tuesday 10 January, which aims to further strengthen cooperation between the two institutions.
Recalling the Russian invasion of Ukraine - which it condemns in the strongest terms -, China’s growing assertiveness and the instability in the two organisations’ neighbourhood, the 14-point joint declaration considers that the moment we are living through is “more than ever demonstrating the importance of the transatlantic bond, calling for closer EU-NATO cooperation”.
It also recalls that NATO remains the foundation of the collective defence of its members and remains essential for Euro-Atlantic security, while recognising “the value of a stronger and more capable European defence that contributes positively to global and transatlantic security and is complementary to, and interoperable with NATO”.
Speaking to the media, the Presidents of the European Commission and the European Council and the NATO Secretary General welcomed the new declaration, which was originally due to be signed at the NATO Madrid Summit in June 2022. “With this new joint declaration, we are taking our partnership to a new level. We will deepen our excellent cooperation and extend it to new areas”, explained Ms von der Leyen.
The declaration thus identifies new areas of cooperation. “We will further strengthen our cooperation in existing areas, and expand and deepen our cooperation to address in particular the growing geostrategic competition, resilience issues, protection of critical infrastructures, emerging and disruptive technologies, space, the security implications of climate change, as well as foreign information manipulation and interference”, the EU and NATO warn.
The two institutions also state that they will continue to mobilise the full range of means at their disposal - political, economic and military - to further their common goals.
While 21 countries are members of both NATO and the EU, Jens Stoltenberg encouraged countries that are members of only one of the two organisations to participate as much as possible in the initiatives of the other organisation.
See the joint declaration: https://aeur.eu/f/4u6 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)