Ministers from EU 23 member states signed on Monday in Brussels a joint notification on the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) and handed it over to the High Representative and the Council. The member states who signed the joint notification are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. On behalf of Romania the notification was signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Teodor Melescanu and by the Minister of Defence Mihai Fifor.
The event took place on the sidelines of the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels.
According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE), on this occasion, Minister Teodor Melescanu expressed his appreciation for the progress achieved so far in the process of strengthening the security and defence dimension of the EU, with the launch of PESCO “signifying the beginning of some developments that Romania wants to be as comprehensive as possible at the level of the member states,” reads the quoted source.
The foreign minister stressed the importance of the principles of transparency and solidarity, as well as of a balanced approach to ensure the development of the defence capabilities necessary to meet the security concerns of all member states.
The Romanian official pointed out on this occasion that “ensuring the complementarity with NATO is essential” and that “PESCO should also contribute to strengthening the EU-NATO cooperation in various areas, such as development of capabilities.”
“The objective must be not only to avoid duplication, but also to improve synergies and to harmonize the EU-NATO priorities,” Melescanu added.
The stage of signing the PESCO Notification is part of the series of decisions for implementing the EU’s Global Strategy for Foreign Policy and Common Security, a process in which Romania has actively got involved. The participation of Romania in PESCO was approved by the decision of the Country’s Supreme Defence Council on October 17, 2017.