Defence Minister Matej Tonin met in Berlin on Thursday his German and Portuguese counterparts, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and Joao Gomeso Cravinho, to mainly talk about closer cooperation in defence as part of the EU presidency trio.
On the sidelines of an informal meeting of the EU defence ministers, the German and Portuguese colleagues accepted Tonin’s initiative for regular meetings as part of the 18-month presidency, which started with Germany on 1 July.
Regular meetings would enable closer cooperation and coordination in the implementation of objectives and a joint approach towards European institutions, the Slovenian Defence Ministry said in a press release.
Slovenia is to preside over the EU Council in the second half of 2021, after Portugal, which will be in charge in the first half of next year.
For the Slovenian stint, the ministry has so far identified three priorities at its level, including the Western Balkans in terms of enhancing dialogue and greater inclusion of the region’s countries in initiatives of the common security and defence policy.
The other two priorities are upgrading the cooperation between the EU and NATO in cyber security, hybrid threats and military mobility, and improving the energy efficiency of the defence system.
Tonin also attended today a ministerial of the group of 21 countries participating in the Framework Nations Concept of NATO, which is led by Germany.
The concept is focused on strengthening the alliance’s European pillar by creating larger formations made of national contributions which complement Germany’s nuclear capabilities.
Slovenia, which joined the concept in June 2018, participates in the chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear protection cluster and in the multi-national aviation group.
It is also considering joining other capability clusters, as it wants to raise the military cooperation with Germany to another level, the ministry said.
