EU Defense Washington Forum (July 8-9)

23.06.2020

 

The EU Defense Washington Forum, organized by the European Union and the Foreign Policy Program at the Brookings Institution on 8-9 July 2020, convened leaders, policy makers and experts in the field of security and defense from the European Union, the United States, and NATO for a virtual discussion on the pressing security matters facing the transatlantic community.

With the ongoing COVID pandemic contributing to global instability, taking a toll on national budgets, and raising questions about the definition of threats to security and how to address them, defense officials all over the world are forced to reckon with this new normal, and the new challenges that come with it.

This year’s forum discussed the impacts of COVID on transatlantic security, as well as other timely topics such as addressing the technology challenge from China, defense spending and capabilities, EU-US-NATO cooperation, deterrence, non-proliferation and arms control.

The keynote opening speaker on July 8 was German Defense Minister German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who stressed that "a strong Europe is always an ally to further America's interests and values." She confirmed Germany and the EU's commitment to do more on defense: "the question of spending more for defense is one that is in our very own interest."

Woman talking to an audience

The EU's High Representative Josep Borrell was the keynote opening speaker on July 9 (watch here). In his remarks, he stated that "the transatlantic community must be ready to defend its values and interests. Our citizens expect a coordinated response. We have each other's back in the field. The EU is committed to enhancing security and defense cooperation with our transatlantic partners. For Europe, NATO is and will remain the cornerstone of our collective security. There's no alternative to that."

The EU's High Representative added that  "we need to complement our soft power with a hard power dimension. This is a key contribution to a more geopolitical union, one that should do more for its own security & defense."

Borrell during an interview

Latvian Deputy Prime minister and Minister of Defense, Artis Pabriks, and Dutch Minister of Defense, Ank Bijleveld-Schouten, also spoke at the Forum, as did Under Secretary of Defense Ellen Lord, Assistant Secretary of State Clarke Cooper, U.S. Presidential Envoy for Arms Control Marshall Billingslea, Deputy Secreteray General of NATO Mircea Geoana, Members of Congress Chrissy Houlahan and Will Hurd, Member of the European Parliament Radoslaw Sikorski, and several other high-level EU, U.S., and NATO officials and experts.

In his introductory remarks, EU Ambassador to the U.S. Stavros Lambrinidis stressed that Europeans "want to expand our role as a security provider, and as a strong partner for the U.S. and other key allies, while strengthening the European pillar of NATO." Watch his remarks here.

Man talking to the camera

You can watch all the videos of the EU Defense Washington Forum on our Youtube channel here.

The full program underneath and the webcast are also available on the Brookings website here.

Monitor online engagement and further engage with us using #EUDefense @EUintheUS @BrookingsFP.

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virtual, Washington