During today’s debate on the global strategy for the EU's Foreign and Security Policy, presented to MEPs by the High Representative Federica Mogherini, the ALDE Group’s coordinator on the European Parliament's AFET Committee, Hans van Baalen (VVD, The Net - Main contents
During today’s debate on the global strategy for the EU's Foreign and Security Policy, presented to MEPs by the High Representative Federica Mogherini, the ALDE Group’s coordinator on the European Parliament's AFET Committee, Hans van Baalen (VVD, The Netherlands), pleaded for a close security and defence cooperation with the United Kingdom, despite the Brexit vote:
“The UK is as a Permanent Member of the UN Security Council, of vital importance to the security in Europe and beyond. It is therefore wise that the HRVP Federica Mogherini gives a crucial role to NATO in this respect.
However, EU member states should put their mouth where the money is. We should strengthen our defence efforts. Today, we don´t need superfluous words, we need to act when our security is threatened, which is the case concerning the positions and actions taken by Russia.”
ALDE MEP, Hilde Vautmans (Open VLD, Belgium), has higher expectations when it comes to addressing the challenges EU faces today:
“The new EU Global Strategy presented by the High Representative Federica Mogherini falls short on ambition when addressing the unprecedented challenges the Union has to deal with. The lack of a pro-active strategy took this European Union close to a breaking point and the ongoing migrant and refugee crisis are overwhelming examples. The lack of a clear security dimension for the Union could have been translated in a smart European Defence Union as endorsed by majority of the European citizens. We cannot build the Union's future based on inconsequent statements. The Europeans citizens are demanding more and rightly so.''
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, took the task of drafting a new global strategy, as the old document dated from 2003. The strategy, launched last week, addresses major challenges in areas such as migration, energy security, climate change, terrorism and hybrid warfare.