The EU is taking its security and defence into its own hands, in full complementarity with NATO.

Main results

The NATO summit was an opportunity to follow up on EU-NATO cooperation. The EU and NATO signed a new joint declaration just ahead of the summit on 10 July 2018.

The NATO summit was also an occasion to take stock of progress achieved since the previous 2016 Warsaw and 2017 Brussels summits.

President Donald Tusk, President Jean-Claude Juncker, and High Representative Federica Mogherini represented the EU at the NATO summit.

President Tusk participated to the working dinner of the North Atlantic Council at the level of heads of state and government on 11 July. The following day he took part in the meeting on Afghanistan.

President Tusk also met bilaterally with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan as well as with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

Speaking on the eve of the NATO summit, President Tusk addressed President Donald Trump directly:

"Dear president Trump: America does not have, and will not have a better ally than Europe. Today Europeans spend on defence many times more than Russia, and as much as China. And I think you can have no doubt, Mr President, that this is an investment in common American and European defence." President Tusk's remarks on EU-NATO cooperation, 10 July 2018

New EU-NATO joint declaration

President Donald Tusk and President Jean-Claude Juncker signed a new EU-NATO joint declaration with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, ahead of the summit on 10 July.

The new joint declaration sets out a shared vision of how the EU and NATO will act together against common security threats.

"We want to protect European citizens with all possible means available, and there is no better partner than NATO. That is why we have agreed today to strengthen EU-NATO ties in crucially important areas." President Donald Tusk's statement at the EU-NATO signing ceremony, 10 Juky 2018

The EU and NATO will focus their cooperation on areas such as:

military mobility

cyber security

hybrid threats

counter-terrorism

women and security

The new joint declaration highlights that EU's recent efforts to step up defence and security cooperation strengthen transatlantic security:

"We welcome EU efforts to bolster European security and defence to better protect the Union and its citizens and to contribute to peace and stability in the neighbourhood and beyond. The Permanent Structured Cooperation and the European Defence Fund contribute to these objectives." Joint declaration on EU-NATO cooperation, 10 July 2018

The declaration builds on the objectives of the previous joint declaration of July 2016, which was signed at the 2016 NATO summit in Poland.

At the June European Council, EU leaders said that EU-NATO cooperation should be further deepened through a new joint declaration:

"The European Council calls for further deepening of EU-NATO cooperation, in full respect of the principles of inclusiveness, reciprocity and decision-making autonomy of the EU, including through a new Joint Declaration, building on the progress made in implementing the 2016 Joint Declaration and the related proposals for action." European Council conclusions, 28 June 2018

About EU-NATO cooperation

The EU and NATO are the backbone of transatlantic security. Their cooperation was established more than 15 years ago. It has led to the development of a broad range of tools to provide greater security to citizens in Europe and beyond.

The EU and NATO signed a joint declaration on increasing practical cooperation at the last NATO summit, held in Poland in July 2016.

In December 2016, the EU and NATO endorsed 42 concrete actions for the implementation of the joint declaration.

Both parties endorsed a new set of 32 actions in December 2017 to expand cooperation to new topics.

Background

There have been 27 NATO summits since 1949. These meetings are attended by the heads of state and government of NATO members and chaired by NATO's Secretary General. The EU is regularly invited to attend these summits.