The minister has attended the meeting of Defense Ministers in Brussels within the framework of the Council of the European Union (EU). The meeting has been held in two sessions, to discuss, respectively, the situation and perspectives of the Security and Defense Policy, and the Missions and Operations of the Union. At the end of both sessions, a lunch was held with the vice secretary general of NATO to discuss the coordination between the two organizations.
Previously, the usual meeting of the Board of Directors of the European Defense Agency (EDA) was held. At this meeting, the ministers of the Member States thanked the magnificent work of the Spanish Ambassador Jorge Domecq, who ends his term as Chief Executive of the EDA. Spain highlighted the important role of the Agency in supporting the strengthening of Defense Capabilities, by pooling the most pressing military needs with a precise knowledge of the industrial possibilities of the Member States.
In the first session of the Council itself, the most current issues of the Common Security and Defense Policy were addressed, especially the Permanent Structured Cooperation (known as PESCO) and its coherence with other initiatives under development, highlighting the Annual Coordinated Defense Review (CARD) and the European Defense Fund. The future development of the Mutual Assistance Clause was also discussed.
In this session, the Council decided to approve the third batch of PESCO projects. "There are a total of 13 new projects that add up to the 34 already existing to total 47 projects. This important number shows the maturity already achieved by the Permanent Structured Cooperation since its launch less than two years ago," said the minister.
Spain participates in 22 of the projects so far leading the project of command and control system of Missions and Operations, and as of today, as the minister in charge has assured "we have assumed the leadership of the active electronic protection air system project. project that aims to cover both a need of the European Union and address a lack of NATO. " This is an example of how Permanent Structured Cooperation facilitates the complementarity and synergy of the two organizations.
In the second session, all Member States have highlighted the importance of the missions and operations carried out by the European Union that act in a double direction; they provide security to European citizens and in the environments where they develop and, at the same time, act as a motor for the transformation of other societies. In this session, the Spanish leadership and strong commitment to the operations to which the greatest number of members of the Member States contributes with the strengthening of all Peace operations has been highlighted.