Enhancing Euro-Atlantic security through closer EU-NATO cooperation
Air Marshal Sir Christopher Harper, Director General of the NATO International Military Staff (DGIMS) and Lieutenant General Wolfgang Wosolsobe, Director General of the European Union Military Staff (DGEUMS), co-chaired on 15 December the informal EU-NATO Director Generals’ Conference. The Conference takes place twice a year and is part of the NATO – EU strategic military dialogue, which has been ongoing since 2003. This session was hosted by the EUMS.
The conference’s purpose was to enhance the staff-to-staff interaction between IMS and EUMS on topics of common interest related to security and defence. The Conference was also an opportunity to take stock of what has been achieved and to look at the way forward.
In his opening remarks, Lieutenant General Wolfgang Wosolsobe said that the cooperation between EU and NATO "has intensified and gained stronger focus", highlighting that "it is our responsibility as highest level military staffs in our respective organisations to propose ways how EU and NATO can join efforts to make best use of the available resources".
During discussions, Air Marshal Harper stated that in order to address the ever changing security environment, NATO and the European Union need to adapt and strengthen their partnership so that work in fields of mutual interest, such as Hybrid Warfare/Hybrid Threat, Cyber Defence and assisting Partners with Defence Capacity Building, is complementary and effective. Air Marshal Harper was also happy to note the EU’s participation in NATO’s largest exercise in over a decade, Exercise Trident Juncture 2015, and the linkage between the latter and the exercise Common Challenge 2015 which led to the certification of the Visegrad 4 (V4) EU Battlegroup.
Concluding the Conference, Air Marshal Harper and Lieutenant General Wosolsobe underlined the importance of complementarity and pursuing common shared interests to enhance Euro-Atlantic security.