Check against delivery! 

These final remarks are not final because there is still a lot of work to be done. 

But the Schuman [Security and Defence] Forum is coming to an end. It has been a short but dense meeting.

We wanted it to be short – it will grow. In future editions, it will last longer in order to have more time to discuss among us ourselves. 

But at least today, it has been a good occasion to share among all of us. Thank you for coming, thank you for joining us in Brussels. 

It is clear that people here support and are united behind the rules-based international order, with the United Nations at its core. This is something that united all of us.

We know that, in order to make the United Nations continue working at the core of the international system, we need to protect it, we need to defend it and to make it stronger.

We also know that partnerships is not a dependence. It is a strength: becoming partner makes us stronger. It is not a dependence, it is a strength. 

And we know also that we need to tailor our mutually beneficial partnerships, in order to be really benefiting to both sides. And this will help us to fulfil our international responsibilities. 

I want to send you a message: the European Union was born in order to solve intra-European problems. The European Union came from the ashes of the war, from an awful war. Europe almost committed suicide. We were killing each other so much that, at the end, we decided that peace had to be done – and we did [it]. 

But it was an issue among ourselves at a moment where the world was divided in two blocks – the Cold War – and the world was still not globalised. We were born in the fifties.

Later, the Cold War finished, and the world became global. And now the European Union has to do something more than just making peace among Europeans, but to be an actor in the world that could contribute to a better world. 

Now, the European Union has to take their responsibilities. When I am talking about responsibilities, I am saying that we have to take [this] seriously, to make European defence stronger and more effective. 

We want to become a stronger and more valuable partner. Inside NATO for sure, but with the rest of the world – with everybody that wants to contribute to a peaceful and prosperous world. 

When I was listening to some of you, in bilaterals and to all of you in the plenary session, I think that there are at least six issues on which I would like to send a message. 

First, the war effort that the Europeans are doing in Ukraine has changed our profile, our brand. The European Union looks different.

A number of partners, that have seen what we have done, expect us to be as fast and as efficient in responding [to] their requests. “What you have done for Ukraine, your efforts, your capacities, your will, the way you have reacted, united, quickly, engaging your resources - political, financial, diplomatic -, we expect you to do the same thing for us.” 

And this is a request that has to be answered. This is a new endeavour for us. 

For example, on operational training or supporting our partners in critical domains such as intelligence, logistics, cyber and hybrid warfare. We must be able to meet those expectations, and to pursue a ‘train and equip’ approach I was talking [about] at the beginning. 

Second, I heard calls from many partners for the delivery of lethal equipment under the European Peace Facility (EPF).

And as a matter of fact, we are working to start delivering such equipment to our African partners in the coming months. To assist Niger with ammunition for helicopters – [that is] one example. To assist Somalia with ammunition for training purposes.

Yes, what we have done using the European Peace Facility to provide lethal equipment to a country at war should, and could, and will be done in supporting other partners in other conflicts around the world. 

Third, by definition, [a] partnership has to be a two-way street. And I would like to see more partners participating in our missions and operations abroad.

Many are already doing that: Georgia, Serbia or Chile. When I see Chilean soldiers in our operation in Sarajevo, then I say “Good. This is the global approach. If Chile can feel engaged in participating in peacekeeping in the Balkans, it means that we are building a world community.” You have made remarkable contributions over the past decades. And Morocco and Jordan have already negotiated the legal framework to allow them to do the same. And partners in Sub-Saharan Africa may express [their] interest too.

So, please: our missions and operations are open to your participation, and it can only be good for all of us. The doors are open, and I hope that we can take this discussion forward. 

Fourth, on top of our long-lasting cooperation with international and regional organisations, we must acknowledge the contributions that individual partners – from Asia [to] Africa – can make. Bilaterally, as contributors to peace operations, be it under the United Nations or the African Union umbrella for example.

And we should offer targeted support to individual partners, as we do with Rwanda for their very effective operation in Mozambique. 

We cannot go there, putting our boots on the ground, but we can support [by] targeting operators that show an extraordinary efficiency – as Rwanda is showing in Mozambique. 

Fifth, I see that there is a growing appetite for joint exercises.

Our Operation [EUNAVFOR] ATALANTA has a long history of naval exercises with partners in the North Western Indian Ocean. I trust that this will continue and intensify, and [that] other European Union navy assets will do the same in other regions, such as in the Gulf of Guinea. I invite everybody interested in participating in this coordinated naval presence in many places – the Gulf of Guinea is one of them, mainly today, after Somalia, the most challenging and important one.

The first European Union Livex is scheduled before the end of the year, during the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. It will be the first, [and] more will come.

Last but not least: this Schuman Forum should not be a one-off event. You came, we discuss, you leave – and that is over. No, my ambition is to make it a regular event. To keep pressure on ourselves to ensure a concrete follow-up.

As I said at the beginning, the European Union is taking seriously its role in the world in which we are living which is not at all the world of 1945. Not even the world of the end of the last century. It is a completely different one. And in this new world, we can do more and better. 

That is why, I invite you to the next Schuman Forum. We schedule to do it once every two years, but let’s do it by the end of the next year before the end of my mandate. It will be a good occasion to see you again and continue working together – even when another team will come and replace us. Because the spirit of Europe has to continue developing for the years to come. 

So, thank you very much for coming here. Thank you to the European Parliament for having hosted us today in its premises. Thank you to the people of the [European] External Action Service (EEAS) who has been behind the organisation of this event.

And see you soon at the next Schuman Forum. 

• Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-238825