Meeting of the&nbsp;Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) in association with the Delegation for relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE) in the EP in Brussels. Debate with Jens STOLTENBERG, NATO Secretary General on EU-NATO relations and preparations for the 25 May NATO summit.

Committee on Foreign Affairs

Brussels

exchange of views

meeting

EU - NATO (T)

STOLTENBERG, Jens (NO)

EU-NATO cooperation: exchange of views with Jens STOLTENBERG, NATO Secretary General

Atmosphere before the opening of the debate, (6 shots)

SOUNDBITE (English), Jens STOLTENBERG, NATO Secretary General, We share the same instability to dissolve with ISIL and turmoil with violence in the Middle East region in Northern Africa and we also share the same challenges with a more assertive Russia.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jens STOLTENBERG, It will be the first meeting where the new US President comes to Europe, comes to NATO and it will also be the first meeting with the new French President. So I&rsquo;m absolutely certain that the NATO meeting on the 25th of May will send a very strong message about Trans-Atlantic unity.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jens STOLTENBERG, NATO Secretary General, Part of Burden sharing, or transatlantic burden sharing is also NATO-EU cooperation and therefore once again I would like to underline that stronger European defence is something I welcome. Stronger European defence is good for the European Union, it is good for Europe and it is good for NATO as long as we make sure, that the European Union makes sure that what the EU does is complementary to NATO and not competing with NATO.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jens STOLTENBERG, NATO Secretary General, NATO is adapting, NATO is responding to an ever more demanding, challenging, dangerous security environment, we do that by implementing the biggest adaptation on the alliance we have seen for many years, but we do that not least by stepping up our cooperation with the EU.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jens STOLTENBERG, NATO Secretary General, The EU defence cooperation is not going to replace the collective defence, which NATO is providing to European NATO partner and just to illustrate, especially when UK leaves the EU then actually around 80 per cent of NATO defence investments will be none EU. 3 of the 4 battalions we are deploying in the Eastern part of the Alliance provide the Terrance, will be led by none EU partners in Europe, meaning Canada, United States and the UK. And you can have different views about NATO partners but it is obvious that Turkey is important for the security of Europe, being a big Alley on the Southern flank.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jens STOLTENBERG, NATO Secretary General, Russia, that is about defence and dialogue, we are increasing our presence in the Eastern part of Alliance not to provoke conflict with Russia but to prevent the conflict with Russia.