El Futuro de la cooperación Unión European - OTAN

We were able to develop common
recommendations, which is really a positive
development.
My last point is, taking into account
that we cannot make any process in the
meetings of Committees, we can do a
lot with step to step talks. We have no
limitations to address issues of common
interest between two steps. And therefore,
the most promising practical steps to
increase cooperation are regular step to
step talks, at all levels.
I would like to underline that we have
started very successful regular meetings
of the two Directors of the Military staffs,
without a limited agenda. I have regular
monthly meetings with my counterpart in
the EU Military staff, the Deputy Director
in Chief of staff of the EUMS where
we discuss and inform each other on
all topics of common interest. We have
regular meetings at staff offi cer levels; we
are organizing workshops on topics of
common interest. So the staff to staff talks
are the most promising developments.
The way ahead. Underlining that political
constraitns need to be solved with a topdown
approach in both organizations,
we have to realize that the bottom-up
approach won’t work for the time being.
We have to wait for the politicians to
be able to solve the participation issue
–which is the Cyprus problem– but also
the exchange of information. We cannot
do something from the bottom up by
Panel II: “Lecciones aprendidas de la cooperación y perspectivas futuras”
working out practices and then coming to
a solution; we need a top-down approach.
We therefore have only limited space
in increasing our cooperation until the
political problems are solved. We therefore
should concentrate on practical aspects.
I would underline that every trial to
formalize NATO-EU cooperation beyond
the Berlin Plus arrangements will fail for
the time being. Improving and spending
military staff o staff contacts at an
informal level, in other words, we should
institutionalize as much as possible this
tool in order to create an atmosphere of
transparency between both organizations.
In the mid-term, we have to balance the
current relationship. We should start
thinking how to make possible that NATO
can benefi t from EU capabilities, especially
within the concept of the Comprehensive
Approach to operations. Probably, the
most promising approach to develop
NATO-EU relations to a realistic partnership
should look into this, in the future. I can
assure you that we, on the working level in
Brussels the EUMC, the EUMS and NATO
MC and NATO MS, will continue to work
on this. But this needs, fi rst of all, political
will and political support. As it has already
been said this morning, we in Brussels can
not do anything when we haven’t got the
support of the Nations. And the Nations
are you. Thank you very much.
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