Brussels, 12 February 2020

Check against delivery!

This is the first time I am attending a defence ministerial of NATO members in my new capacity of High representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy. And it is a pleasure for me to share with my colleagues from NATO Member States the common endeavour that we, European Union and NATO, share.

European Union defence initiatives and NATO alliance are the two sides of the same coin and the Member States of the European Union are more and more ready to take responsibilities in order to increase their efforts on defence, enhancing NATO efforts and building together a stronger partnership.

The world environment has become more risky, more challenging. And in the beginning of the year, new dangers have appeared. We have to face them from Sahel to Iraq, keeping in mind that they are a threat that have to be answered in a coordinated way. We have to develop our defence capacity in Europe but building together with NATO, these are two inseparable realities and just by being together, we are stronger.