As part of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Informal Meeting of the Defence Ministers of the European Union will take place on 30-31 January in Bucharest, in the Royal Palace and the Palace of Parliament.

The event will be chaired by the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, and hosted by the Minister of National Defence, Gabriel Les. NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, and UN Deputy Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, were invited to participate in this discussion.

The meeting will start on 30 January at the Royal Palace with a working dinner focusing on 'Women, Peace and Security', a shared priority for the EU, UN and NATO, and how to mainstream this agenda into peace operations and crisis management.

On day two, 31 January, the Ministers will meet at the Palace of Parliament to exchange views on the way forward on European security and defence policy. They will take stock of the implementation of the work done so far, based on the EU's Global Strategy for Foreign and Security Policy, discuss means of ensuring coherence between the different initiatives and address the implication of trends in technological innovation for armed forces of the Member States.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION:
1) Media Accreditation:
- The journalists' access to the meetings is exclusively based on the media accreditation, which is to be made on the website of the Romanian Presidency at the Council of the European Union at: https://accreditation.romania2019.eu/;
- The deadline for accreditation is 20 January, 2019;
- Accreditation badges can be collected exclusively from the Palace of Parliament - the Accreditation Center of the Romanian Presidency at the EU Council, located at A3/S2 entrance (Bucharest, 2-4 Izvor St.);
- For the issue of accreditation badges, one needs to present his/her accreditation approval and a valid ID or Passport.
2) Media Centre
- During the meeting, the Media Center will operate at the Palace of Parliament (Bucharest, 2-4, Izvor St.,), entrance A3/S2;
- Images from activities will be provided by the Romanian Public Television, the official broadcaster of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

3) PRELIMINARY MEDIA PROGRAM

Wednesday, 30 January, 2019
- Working dinner on 'Women, Peace and Security':
The event is not open to the media, images from the event will be made available through the Media Centre.

Thursday, 31 January, 2019
- Informal Meeting of EU Defence Ministers:
08.30-08.50: Doorsteps;
08.50-09.00: Tour de table;
11.15-11.45: Group photo;
12.00-12.30: Press conference.

4) PRESS CONFERENCE
The press conference at the end of the meeting will be held by the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, and the Minister of National Defense, Gabriel Les, at +/- 12.00.

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Informal ministerial meetings are a regular practice during each Presidency of Council of the EU in order to provide the appropriate framework for a common reflection and informal exchange of views on topics of interest at European and international level.

The Press Office