C 99/112
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
1.3.2022
Wednesday 7 July 2021
Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which establish respectively the EU’s and NATO’s unequivocal commitment to solidarity and security, during the review of the Strategic Concept and the drafting of the Strategic Compass, while considering that the autonomous decision-making of both organisations should be fully respected;
14.
Welcomes the positive language on EU-NATO cooperation in the final communiqué of the NATO Summit on 14 June 2021; believes, however, that significantly more efforts are needed to advance EU-NATO cooperation and achieve a true strategic partnership; underlines that the EU is a partner of NATO and that EU-NATO cooperation is mutually reinforcing and based on the agreed guiding principles of transparency, reciprocity, inclusiveness and the decision-making autonomy of both organisations; stresses that the development of coherent, complementary and interoperable defence capabilities is essential to increase the security of the Euro-Atlantic area in line with the principle of the single set of forces; reiterates that a European capability to act, either in partnership or autonomously, is essential for complementarity and to contribute to the fulfilment of NATO’s core tasks, as well as to enhance conflict prevention, and hence for the security of the European continent as a whole;
15.
Is of the opinion that future EU-NATO cooperation should build on experience and lessons learned from both the EU’s unique expertise in civilian crisis management and capacity building, in particular the ‘Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability’ (CPCC), and its military crisis management expertise, namely the ‘Military Planning and Conduct Capability’ (MPCC), together with the experience gained from deploying 37 military operations in the field since 2003 and providing assistance to military actors in partner countries via the ‘Capacity Building in support of Security and Development’ (CBSD) initiative and the African Peace Facility instrument, which has been integrated into the European Peace Facility;
16.
Welcomes the clear language in the NATO Summit communiqué of 14 June 2021 on the importance of resilience; stresses that both the EU and NATO should strengthen their cooperation and coordinate it more effectively in the key field of resilience, and highlights the EU’s ambition to develop a meaningful approach towards strengthening the various civilian and military aspects of resilience, inter alia in the area of protecting critical infrastructure, such as in the transport, energy and IT sectors, as well as the role of the EU as a key actor in fighting disinformation and fake news;
17.
Welcomes the positive decision by the Council of 6 May 2021 authorising the coordinator of the Military Mobility project, the Netherlands, to invite the US, Canada and Norway, following their respective requests, to participate in the PESCO project on military mobility; underlines that such participation would mark an important step towards increased coherence between the respective EU and NATO capability development efforts, and would constitute a concrete example of a reinvigorated transatlantic partnership; recalls that exceptional participation by third countries in PESCO projects, provided that it does not undermine the objective of fostering the EU CSDP and that they meet an agreed set of political, substantive and legal conditions, can be in the Union’s strategic interest, especially if they provide technical expertise or additional capabilities; considers that this is particularly true of strategic partners such as NATO allies, countries in the Western Balkans and EaP partners; recalls its position that third-country participation can only be exceptional, decided on a case-by-case basis and at the invitation of the EU Member States, and underlines that such participation should provide added value and contribute to strengthening the CSDP; recalls also that participation by third countries must respect the relevant rules set out in Decision (CFSP) 2020/1639;
18.
Underlines the importance of transatlantic cooperation on a range of international issues, such as climate change, pandemic response, emerging disruptive technologies, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, the fight against terrorism, including jihadist and state-sponsored terrorism, energy, maritime security and resilience, and in the area of outer space;
19.
Recognises the important cooperation between the EU and NATO in the Western Balkans, such as that between the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) and Kosovo Force (KFOR); pays tribute to Operation EUFOR Althea, whose operational headquarters are located at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) on the basis of the Berlin Plus arrangements with NATO, which has been contributing under these arrangements to a safe and secure environment in Bosnia and Herzegovina since it took over from NATO’s Stabilisation Force (SFOR) in 2004; notes that the experiences of and lessons learned from these missions and operations are instrumental in ensuring that all current and future EU-NATO cooperation provides peace, security and stability in affected regions, in supporting and training local partners and in