Litouws voorzitterschap organiseert conferentie over crisismanagement (en)

On 12 July Lithuanian Ministries of National Defence and Foreign Affairs co-organise a high-level seminar with the French Ministry of Defence in Paris to discuss the ways of strengthening the EU role in crisis management. The ministerial defence and foreign policy planners of the EU member states and representatives of the European External Action Service (EEAS i) will engage in a discussion on the means that are expected to facilitate the visibility and effectiveness of the European Union Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP).

The opening addresses of the seminar will be delivered by Minister of National Defence Juozas Olekas and French Minister of Defence Jean-Yves Le Drian.

Participants of the seminar will discuss the changes in the EU’s security environment and EU response to emerging security challenges as well as ways of enhancement of Brussels-based CSDP institutions and ways of ensuring better coordination of different EU crisis response instruments (diplomatic, political, economic, financial, military). Seminar will also address the efficiency of the EU crisis response Battlegroups and the development of civilian crisis response capabilities.

The Paris seminar is one of the events the European Union members states hold in preparation for the December European Council on defence. In such meetings representatives of the EU member states discuss and agree points requiring the key focus of the European Heads of State and Government.

Lithuania as the current EU Presidency country aims at strengthening the CSDP and contributing to an enhanced EU’s role as an international security provider. Lithuania’s CSDP priorities for the term of the Presidency include intensified security and defence cooperation with the Eastern partners and developing military dimension of energy security with a view of incorporating these issues into the CSDP, as well as to contributing to a bigger role of the EU in ensuring international security through the development of the EU Battlegroups i, supporting EU involvement in multinational operations, and encouraging a closer and better-harmonized EU-NATO cooperation in the international security sector.

As it has been proposed by President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, defence issues have been included into the agenda of the European Council for 2013 highlighting the fact that the shifting international security environment requires a strategic-level discussion regarding further defence cooperation of the EU member states.

As the host country of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union Lithuania will seek to include the above-mentioned issues into the top-level discussion at the European Council, supports the initiative regarding the revision of the European Security Strategy adopted in 2003.