On August 29 - 30, Defence Minister Mihai Fifor will participate in the Informal Meeting of EU Defence Ministers in Vienna, under the aegis of the EU Council Austrian Chairmanship.

The reunion is of utmost importance, taking into account the fact that Romania assumed to take over the European Council Chairmanship starting with January 2019 and that the next such ministerial is scheduled to take place at Bucharest, in January.

The Vienna Reunion aims at continuing the high-level dialogue on a highly topical today-European defence. Thus, the first subject listed on the reunion agenda will be the European Union commitment in the Western Balkans, with focus on implementation of the security and defence-related issues stipulated in the EU Strategy for this region. NATO Deputy Secretary General and UN Under- Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations will also attend the talks.

The talks that will be held on Thursday, August 30, will tackle the wider domain of the European steps taken to consolidate EU's security and defence and will focus on three major elements establishment of the European Peace Facility, review of EU's Military Planning and Conduct Capability (MPCC), and the continuation of PESCO implementation efforts. Also, ensuring coherence with the other defence initiatives promoted at EU level (CARD, EDF) will be another topic that will be approached.

The Press Office