On March 1, 2007, the Federal Minister of Defence, Dr. Franz Josef Jung, will open the Informal Meeting of Defence Ministers of the European Union in Wiesbaden. A demanding work programme will be on the agenda. For the first time, Bulgaria and Romania will participate in the meeting as full EU members.
During the two-day meeting in Wiesbaden, a total of three working sessions will provide the defence ministers of what are by now 27 nations, as well as the Secretary-General and High Representative of the EU, Dr. Javier Solana, with the opportunity to discuss current security policy issues.
Operations and civilian missions of the European Union will be on the agenda of the first day. These include the Western Balkans with its four-stage plan and the Kosovo status negotiations, as well as the intensification of the EU police mission in Afghanistan. Minister Jung has extended a personal invitation to the NATO Secretary-General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, to attend the first working day.
The second day will focus on the European Union’s military capabilities. The subjects of discussion will range from cooperation between the EU and the United Nations, here specifically the example of the successful operation in the Congo, to the further development of the EU’s own military capabilities and the European Defence Agency EDA.
Federal Minister Jung said, “With the EU operations, cooperation with NATO, the UN and other partners, and the further development of military capabilities, we have identified three priority areas in which we would like to achieve tangible progress during our presidency.”
The informal meetings of defence ministers are an integral part of all EU presidencies and are traditionally staged in the first half of the six-month term of the respective presidency. For Germany, the presidency will end on June 30, 2007, when Portugal will take over.
