The highly advertised US dialogue with the European Union on security and defense is be launched early next year with the participation of the US Departments of State and Defense and the European Defence Agency (EDA), the European Commission as well as the European External Action Service (EEAS).
According to the director-general of the EU Military Staff, Hervé Bléjean, the new forum, first announced in their joint EU-US June summit, aims to formalize staff-level ties between both sides of the Atlantic.
Bléjean also pointed to cyber threats and climate change as possible areas for cooperation and issues they need to address on top of joining efforts on disruptive technologies.
US State Secretary Antony Blinken and the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell, acknowledged in a joint statement on Friday the importance of having a stronger and more capable European defense that will contribute to the global and transatlantic security in confronting common security challenges.
The announced increased cooperation comes in a time of increased tensions between the West and Russia over the migrant crisis on the EU border with Belarus and the amassing of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine.
Both allies restated the need of developing coherent, complementary, and interoperable capabilities for possible involvement of the United States in the EU defense initiative.
EU member states agreed earlier in May to allow the participation of the US, Canada, and Norway in the bloc’s project on military mobility designed to enable seamless movement of military equipment across the EU in response to crises.
The EDA was tasked in November to begin talks with Pentagon about a possible agreement to facilitate cooperation on joint military projects under PESCO, the EU’s Permanent Structured Cooperation.
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