On May 6 Minister of National Defence Arvydas Anušauskas attended a Foreign Affairs Council on Defence meeting in Brussels. The main discussion on the agenda focused on the Strategic Compass document which will set out guidance for a more efficient EU action on security and defence and threat management in the EU neighbourhood. Defence Ministers discussed ways to speed up and improve EU decision-making and enhance the EU ability to conduct military operations effectively.
“We need to concert our security interests, especially in the immediate neighborhood, the EU ambition, and the resources we have. Cooperation and compatibility with NATO and other strategic partners is one of the main EU crisis management priorities,” said Minister A. Anušauskas in the debate on the Strategic Compass.
Ministers of Defence and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, also discussed current affairs, including the Russian escalation on the border of Ukraine. Minister of Defence of Lithuania underscored that the European security was directly linked with the situation in the Eastern neighborhood and invited the EU to put to use all the instruments available to it in support of Ukraine. “The situation on the borders of Ukraine remains tense. The European and transatlantic community needs to send a clear message that they are prepared to take actions in response,” said Minister A. Anušauskas.
The EU Defence Ministers also adopted the decisions on participation of Canada, Norway and the United States of America in the PESCO Military Mobility project. That allows the three countries to take part in the initiatives for a swifter and seamless military movement in Europe alongside EU countries, and that will facilitate completion of NATO collective defence and better EU crisis management.
Military mobility in Europe will also benefit from another agreement, on harmonization of military requirement for customs process, signed by the Lithuanian Defence Minister and his EU colleagues in Brussels.
Photos: courtesy of the EU (https://www.consilium.europa.eu )
