Informal meeting of EU Defence Ministers: Remarks by the High Re

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Good morning,

I would like to thank the Defence Minister of Germany [Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer] for hosting this meeting, which is the first physical meeting since March. Six months have passed without having the opportunity of sitting and discussing together.

Today, we are going to discuss very important topics, because the situation is very worrisome in Libya, in Mali, tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, the situation in Belarus. We have a lot of issues to talk about.

We will also talk about structural matters like the Strategic Compass. We have to push for this Strategic Compass to be developed and many other issues of European defence.

I am very happy that we are going to have with us the NATO Secretary General [Jens Stoltenberg] and also the United Nations Under-Secretary-General [for Peace Operations] Jean-Pierre Lacroix.

I think it is going to be a profitable meeting.

Thank you, Minister [Kramp-Karrenbauer], for organising it.

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-193911