NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană participated in the European Defence and Security Conference in Brussels on Tuesday (10 October 2023). In a conversation with the Dutch Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren, moderated by Euronews journalist Méabh Mc Mahon, Mr Geoană highlighted the significant increase in NATO-EU cooperation in recent years.
In a world that is changing, NATO and the EU must work even more closely together than ever to ensure our security Mr Geoană said. He added: “the war in Ukraine, terrorist attacks in the Middle East, the rise of China, technological revolution. We cannot afford to sit idle. The lives of one billion citizens of NATO, and so many hundreds of millions in the EU, are in our hands”.
The Deputy Secretary General also said that NATO and the EU should continue to strengthen cooperation in the field of innovation to “avoid unnecessary fragmentation of our unique innovation ecosystem, on which our interests in the long-run depend”. He concluded that NATO and the EU must find ways to accelerate their technological edge by increasing innovation across NATO Allies and EU member states.
The European Defence and Security Conference brings together key decision makers from the EU, NATO, academia, and the defence industry to address current security challenges.
