Mogherini at NATO Foreign Ministers’ meeting highlights excellent EU-NATO cooperation - Hoofdinhoud

High Representative Federica Mogherini i today attended the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels, where she welcomed the close cooperation on a number of issues between the European Union and NATO.

Speaking at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg i, Mogherini underlined: “During this one year and a half of our parallel mandates, we have really energised and intensified the cooperation between the European Union and NATO. It was our intention to do so and, indeed, the preparation for the Warsaw Summit in July and of the European Council taking place a few weeks before, will create an excellent synergy for highlighting the fields where working together brings an added-value.”

The two organisations already cooperate closely on hybrid threats and cyber. “There are other elements where our cooperation is excellent and brings a real added value. One is maritime security. We are working very well together in the Aegean Sea. We are obviously looking at ways in which we can work together and how NATO can support the activities of the European Union, in particular the Operation Sophia in the Central Mediterranean, to dismantle the traffickers’ business. But also Maritime Security at large in other parts of the world,” Mogherini said.

“There are theatres where we are both present. In the Balkans for sure, where our cooperation is key to the stability of countries that are extremely important for both NATO and the European Union; and in other countries that are a bit more far away, like Afghanistan, and for whom the Warsaw Summit will provide an excellent complement, from a European point of view, to the Brussels conference that we will organise with Afghanistan on the civilian part - so on the political and pledging support to the country in early October. This is a perfect example on how our two organisations - that are different but complementary somehow - can work together and bring an added value in terms of stability and security in the world.”

Finally, Mogherini welcomed Montenegro’s signature of the Accession Protocol.