Tuesday

19th Mar 2024

EU considers 'military approach' to local threats

  • Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia want permanent Nato troops stationed on their territories (Photo: European External Action Service)

The EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Thursday (14 May) said the EU cannot ignore the military aspects of new threats surrounding Europe.

Speaking before her third ministerial meeting of Nato ministers in Antalya, Turkey, Mogherini said that the EU wants to increase co-operation with the alliance of 28 states.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

“The European Union is very much aware of the fact that we need to increase our capacity to crisis. This for the European Union, very different from Nato, does not necessarily mean a military approach but cannot rule out a military aspect of our work in the region and in the world,” she said.

The EU is planning to launch a full-scale naval assault against migrant traffickers in Libya. According to Reuters, Nato is willing to help.

The Antalya meeting also discussed on-going tensions in Ukraine and the broader Russian aggression.

On Thursday, two Russian strategic bombers were escorted away from British airspace by RAF Typhoon fighter jets. The bombers did not enter UK territory.

But similar moves and others since Russia’s annexation of Crimea last year are part of a larger pattern of its military assertion against Europe.

Reported threats by Russia to deploy nuclear weapons in Crimea have put senior Nato officials on high alert.

Nato supreme commander US Air Force General Philip Breedlove at the Antalya meeting described Kremlin’s nuclear rhetoric as irresponsible posturing.

“This discussion of nukes and the possibility of moving nukes into certain areas or employing nukes if something had not gone correctly in Crimea and all these other things, which have been put out there — this is not responsible language from a nuclear nation,” he said.

A Nato joint-statement earlier this week noted that any “future stationing of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems in Crimea” would destablise the region.

It condemned Russia’s on-going military build-up in Crimea and further military build-up in the Black Sea, “which will potentially have further implications for the stability of the region.”

It noted Russia needs to withdraw its forces and military equipment from Ukraine and accused Russian-backed rebels of violating the ceasefire along the contact line.

Meanwhile, Nato’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance is working with the EU to counter Russia’s combination of conventional attacks with subversion, cyber attacks, deception and disinformation.

“We will ensure that the strategies we are developing are complimentary, so that we can work together quickly and effectively in case of a hybrid threat against our members,” he said.

It includes possibly sending brigade-sized units of up to several thousand soldiers to Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. The three Baltic countries sent a letter of request for Nato to deploy the extra troops.

"When we receive the letter we will go carefully through the letter and assess the proposals in that letter," said Stoltenberg.

The US, for its part, is rotating around 600 of its troops between the Baltic states and Poland.

Military action underpins EU migration plan

The EU commission has unveiled its migrant quota system, as ministers get set for talks on military operations to destroy migrant smuggler boats in Libya.

Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access

70 percent of northern Gaza is facing famine, new data shows. There is one shower per 5,500 people, and 888 people per toilet. 'How can you live in these conditions?" asked Natalie Boucly of UNRWA at the European Humanitarian Forum.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Latest News

  1. Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access
  2. Europol: Israel-Gaza galvanising Jihadist recruitment in Europe
  3. EU to agree Israeli-settler blacklist, Borrell says
  4. EU ministers keen to use Russian profits for Ukraine ammo
  5. Call to change EIB defence spending rules hits scepticism
  6. Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers
  7. EU summit, Gaza, Ukraine, reforms in focus this WEEK
  8. The present and future dystopia of political micro-targeting ads

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us