On October 7-8 Vilnius hosts a high-level seminar on the prospects of the European Union Eastern Partnership policy in security and defence domain. Before the event, one of the speakers, Director for Security and Defence Policy in the European External Action Service Joanneke Balfoort, shared her thoughts on key EU Eastern Partnership challenges and the importance of Lithuania’s role.
“Such seminars as this one, as well as other events dedicated to Eastern Partnership, enable us to inform our partners about the current variations in the EU policy, and our partners – to express their views, proposals and concerns, all for the benefit of our mutual understanding. This also allows us to enhance the ties between member states, partner countries and experts of the European institutions. A regular and consistent communication with the partners is crucial for Eastern Partnership, therefore we really appreciate that Lithuania holds this seminar every year,” says J. Balfoort.
Expert-level seminars have been held in Lithuania since 2014.The seminar this year is organized in four discussion panels where members of the academia, representatives of European institutions and officials from EaP and European foreign and defence ministries discuss trends and prospects of the Eastern Partnership security and defence policy.
Friday J. Balfoort, Vice Minister of National Defence Margiris Abukevičius and Parliamentary State Secretary to the German Federal Minister of Defence Thomas Silberhorn take part in a discussion moderated by Director at Institute of International Relations and Political Science Margarita Šešelgytė on key EaP security and defence challenges.
According to EEAS Director for Security and Defence Policy, the European Union Eastern Partnership initiative faces a particularly diverse and numerous set of challenges.
“The essence of the EU EaP policy is to ensure that Europe and our partner countries are more secure and resilient. The EU proposed a renewed EaP agenda last year. It is a confirmation of our cooperation with the Eastern partners and a response to their requests and ambitions. The Eastern region remains a EU priority,” said J. Balfoort.
According to the expert, the Armenian, Azerbaijanian, Georgian, Moldovan and Ukrainian partners are facing the same challenges and EU member states, such as cyber security, disinformation, hybrid attacks.
“In fact, our partner countries are the test site of all the emerging threats that we then encounter. Therefore, even if the Eastern Partnership is not a security and defence platform specifically, we plan to further support the partners, especially in the area of hybrid and cyber threats. We are looking for ways for our partners to become even more involved in the European Common Security and Defence Policy planning, as well as engage through the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace or Permanent Structured Cooperation projects,” said the expert.
J. Balfoort insists that the main driving force behind the EaP are the EU member states, and Lithuania is among the most active of them.
“We highly value Lithuania’s efforts and dedication to the Eastern Partnership initiative. Lithuania has always been a strong EaP supporter that proposes new initiatives and not only joints in the efforts actively but also does the organizational work. The seminar taking place this week is an example of that,” says J. Balfoort.
EEAS Director for Security and Defence Policy adds that even though the different initiatives have already allowed EaP countries to make plenty of achievements, still much needs to be done, especially in the areas of rule of law and good governance.
“In the renewed EaP agenda we are focusing significantly on resilience. In the nearest while it will help our partners recover from the pandemic and fight afainst disinformation . The EU expects the EaP to single-mindedly grow stronger and bring more strategic advantage,” says J. Balfoort.
The event is co-organized by the European External Action Service (EEAS), Ministry of National Defence, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania. The seminar will address policy priorities of the EU Eastern Partnership ahead of the EU EaP Summit in December.
The discussions are moderated by Tomas Jermalavičius, Head of Studies at the International Centre for Defence and Security in Tallinn, former Minister of National Defence ad of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius, Director at Institute of International Relations and Political Science Margarita Šešelgytė, and Defence Counselor at Lithuanian Embassy to Ukraine Robertas Šapronas.
