Verklaring vaste voorzitter Europese Raad Van Rompuy over actieve rol EU binnen de NAVO en internationale operaties (en)

EUCO 66/12

PRESSE 164

PR PCE 58

Remarks by President Herman Van Rompuy i

after his meeting with Secretary-General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen i

It was a pleasure to meet Secretary-General Rasmussen following last week's NATO Ministerial Meetings and hear about his expectations for the 2012 NATO Chicago Summit.

I look forward to attending the Chicago Summit and to reaffirm the EU's intent to become a more capable, coherent and strategic global actor. The Summit will represent a great opportunity for Europe to demonstrate that it has the will, resolve and ability to deliver the military capabilities Europe needs.

I am encouraged by recent concrete progress among EU Member States on military capability development in areas such as air-to-air refuelling, medical support, training and maritime surveillance, which has been facilitated by the excellent work of the European Defence Agency with support of EU Defence Ministers. European cooperation on Pooling and Sharing is not only a response to current capability shortfalls, it is a necessity in the context of financial austerity and the changing strategic environment. It is an area where the EU and NATO can work closely together to ensure coherence, mutual reinforcement and non-duplication between the Pooling and Sharing and Smart Defence initiatives.

The EU and NATO remain strategic partners in crisis management. We operate side by side in Afghanistan, Kosovo and off the coast of Somalia. Today's meeting gave me the opportunity to express the EU's appreciation for the very fruitful cooperation with NATO both here in Brussels and on the ground. It is my hope that we can further strengthen our close partnership for the benefit of international peace and security.