The implementation of defence aspects from the EU's global strategy in the field of foreign and security policy, joint procedure vis-a-vis hybrid threats, and cyber security: these were the main topics of an informal session of EU Defence Ministers which took part in Bratislava, on Monday and Tuesday. One of the questions before the meeting was, if the ministers would discuss the creation of a common European army; an idea which Prime Ministers of the Visegrad Four Countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) suggested in August at their meeting in Warsaw. "I think the problem of an EU army lies in the fact that this idea is not compatible with overall weakening of the Union in other fields," said Marian Majer, an analyst at the Central European Institute. High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini confirmed his doubts about the project emphasizing that not a single word was mentioned about the European armed forces.
Mogherini
Máte problém s prehrávaním? Nahláste nám chybu v prehrávači.
said Mogherini, who also described the negotiations in Bratislava as highly important in terms of the further steps to be taken in defence cooperation. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who also took part at the meeting said that cooperation between NATO and the EU is closer than ever before and is equally important for both associations.
Stoltenberg
Máte problém s prehrávaním? Nahláste nám chybu v prehrávači.
said Stoltenberg. However, he emphasized that there is a need to avoid the duplication of services in this relationship.
After the meeting, Slovak Defence Minister Peter Gajdoš said to the media that Slovakia has contributed €50,000 to the training of Libyan coast guard and that the country is ready to send its military police officers to serve in the Sophia naval operation in the Mediterranean Sea, targeting the network of people smugglers.
