Common EU security policy
State Secretary Pjer Simunovic participated today, 23 September 2011, in Wroclaw, Poland, on a briefing / political dialogue for the EU candidate countries and European NATO countries (non-EU countries) that was held on the sidelines of the informal meeting of the EU member states.
The meeting was organized as part of the Polish EU presidency during the second half of 2011. On behalf of the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, C. Ashton, a meeting of political dialogue was led by the Polish defence minister Tomasz Siemoniak, and the meeting was attended by representatives of the Ministries of Defence of Croatia, Albania, Iceland, Montenegro, Macedonia, Norway and Turkey.
EU political dialogue with representatives of partner countries has been organized as a meeting with the aim to continue informing them about major issues related to the development of the Common Security and Defence Policy. The last such meeting was held in late June 2011 in Brussels, shortly after the European Council on 24 June 2011, in its conclusions, determined the completion of negotiations with Croatia.
Today’s meeting had on agenda a discussion of EU operations in the South East Europe and the Horn of Africa / Somalia and the possibilities and prospects of EU involvement in the field of “southern neighbourhood” with a focus on Libya. In addition, the discussions included issues associated with the development of capabilities for crisis management and the EU defence capabilities, with special emphasis on initiatives related to capabilities development through the concept of pooling and sharing. The talks were also on future partnerships and modalities of cooperation between the EU and EU candidate countries, NATO and UN.
State Secretary Pjer Simunovic in his speech stressed that Croatia as a future member, was fully ready to participate in building of common European security and supported efforts aimed at developing a credible EU Common Security and Defence Policy, where Croatia provided a concrete contribution through participation in EU operations and the EU Battle Groups, and through promoting the development of key capabilities through the concept of pooling and sharing launched by Weimar letter and Ghent initiative. In this context, the efforts of Croatia and its partners were highlighted regarding the Central European Solution Initiative for Pooling and Sharing of Capabilities. In terms of operations, Croatian contribution to the operation Atalanta and EU operations in Bosnia and Kosovo was highlighted. State Secretary pointed out in particular our support to the international community in resolving the conflict in Libya and stressed the need for further coordinated efforts in stabilization in post-conflict conditions in Libya and in this context the need to continue helping the Interim Government and the population of Libya.