On Monday, April 12, the Ministry of National Defense and New Strategy Center organized the conference “Building Together a More Resilient Europe: Military Assistance to Civilian Authorities”. Conducted online, the discussions focused on specific aspects of cooperation between the armed forces and civilian institutions in action aimed at increasing the resilience of EU states. The event was opened by Mrs. Simona Cojocaru, Secretary of State for Defense Policies, Planning and International Relations within the Ministry of National Defense and also benefited from the contribution of Mr. Dan Neculăescu, Secretary of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The first panel was dedicated to the lessons learned and the concrete experience that resulted from the cooperation between the military and civilian institutions during the pandemic. The experiences gained at national and EU level were presented, the speakers being MG Vlad Ghiorghiță, Deputy for Operations and Training of the Chief of the Romanian Defense Staff, Capt. (N) Efstathios Kyriakidis, on behalf of the EU Military Staff, Col. José Carlos Loureiro, Directorate General for Defense Policies, Ministry Defense, Portugal, Col. Diego Antonio Giarrizzo, from the Joint Operational Staff of Italy. The discussion was moderated by MG (Ret) Leonardo Dinu, Member of the Scientific Council of the New Strategy Center.
The second panel examined what needs to be adapted in the role of the Armed Forces, as well as what types of scenarios should be foreseen for future threats. The discussions also focused on the concrete objectives that could be proposed for the so-called Strategic Compass, a broad process of reflection at European level that will result in a document that will assess potential threats and set EU objectives and interests in terms of defense and security. Moderated by Dr. Alina Bârgăoanu, senior associate expert of New Strategy Center, the discussion had as speakers Amb. Mihnea Motoc, Deputy Director of the I.D.E.A. (Inspire, Debate, Engage and Accelerate Action), the European Commission’s security think tank, former Romanian Minister of Defense, Prof. Bjorn Marcusson, National Defense University, Sweden, Arnout Molenaar, from the Department of Security Policy Defense and Security of the European External Action Service (EEAS), Amb. Victor Micula, Director General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Romania and Dr. Janis Berzins, Director of the Center for Security and Strategic Research, National Defense Academy, Latvia.
The event brought together officials and experts involved in coordinating armed support for civilian authorities, as well as independent experts, strategic planners and policy makers already engaged in defining the future profile of the military as part of the currently being redesigned ”whole-of-government” mechanisms, to meet future challenges and increase the resilience of Member States and the European Union as a whole.