Minister Mihai Fifor together with Minister Teodor Melescanu participated in the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council, in the EU defence and foreign affairs ministers format, taking place in Brussels on Monday, November 13th.

Romania signed the Notification of the EU High Representative and the Council on the association of the countries interested in the Permanent Structured Cooperation process (PESCO).

The notification was signed by 23 EU member states, namely Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Hungary. By signing the Notification, Romania will be at the core of the group of EU countries that are most active in the field of security and defence.

PESCO is an intensified form of cooperation in terms of the Common Security and Defence Policy, in agreement with the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty. The initiation of PESCO is a priority on the European agenda and an important message concerning the commitment of the European states to enhance cooperation on security and defence, in the context of the major security threats EU is facing.

During the working lunch they discussed the progress made in implementing the EU Global Strategy on security and defence where the defence package is concerned: permanent structured cooperation, the annual defence review, the European defence fund and civilian capacities. The defence minister spoke of the support Romania is giving to the efforts made to ensure the development of the role of the EU in security and defence, pointing out the importance of ensuring an inclusive and transparent process, enhancing the complementarity of EU-NATO relation, developing PESCO, as well as the endeavours related to the development of the defence industry.

As to the PESCO process, Mihai Fifor pointed out the pledge Romania made to support these efforts with a view to rendering operational cooperation in this format.

During the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in the defence ministers format, they discussed the latest developments of NATO-EU cooperation, mainly the stage of implementing the Joint Declaration adopted by the two organizations in 2016. The Romanian defence minister praized the resultes obtained so far in implementing the 42 concrete steps and mentioned the support of the new set of proposals in implementing the Joint Declaration made at Warsaw that is to be agreed on by member and allied states in December this year.

The meeting of the Steering Committee of the European Defence Agency (EDA) focused on the budget proposal for 2018 and the new initiatives in the field of the European defence.

The defence minister praized the efforts made by EDA during the assessment of the Agency's long-term priorities and goals and highlighted EDA's role in transposing the EU's level of ambition into concrete initiatives.

Press Department