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EU security, defense: The Netherlands calls for more joint use of capacities

Xinhua, February 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

European Union (EU) member states should work towards further integration and joint use of capacities in the security and defense sector, Dutch defense minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert announced on Friday.

"If we look at the security challenges we all face today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, it is clear that no member state will be able to face them on its own," the Dutch minister told the press after a joint working lunch of EU member states' ministers of defense and foreign affairs.

"Member states have to get their act together," she added, "There is war out there, nobody can deny it. We cannot continue writing papers, we have to act and the European citizens expect us to act."

The Dutch minister gave the example of integration and joint use of military capacities between Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.

"Belgium and the Netherlands have fully integrated navies. The Netherlands already integrated our Air Mobile Brigade into the German Division Schnelle Krafte," she explained, going on to cite other successful defense partnerships.

"This is what the future of European defense should be about," concluded the Dutch minister.

The Netherlands currently hold the rotating six-month presidency of the EU. In its EU policy, the Dutch government says it is attaching particular importance to strengthening the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), including the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP).

A new global strategy on foreign and security policy is expected to be presented to the European Council in June 2016. "We identified a very solid common ground for proceeding drafting. We will present the global strategy at the end of June," said EU's foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini, who chaired the informal meeting of the EU foreign affairs council here on Friday. Endit