21.05.2016 - 09:21 [ Organisation des Nordatlantik-Vertrages (NATO) ]

Doorstep statements by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and EU High Representative Federica Mogherini before the meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers on cooperation with the European Union

(20.5.2016) QUESTION (Wall Street Journal): Secretary General, I wonder if you could talk about whether the cooperation on hybrid threat and other matters of the EU can lead to sort of meaningful intelligence sharing, or if there are too many political hurdles. And the High Representative, I wonder if you could tell a little bit more specifically, what kind of support you would like NATO to give the EU in the Central Mediterranean to Operation Sophia and your other efforts.

SECRETARY GENERAL: I think that what we see related to hybrid, is that we are faced with threats where we see a combination of civilian and military means. And we see overt and covert means of aggression. Therefore, it is an obvious need for enhanced coordination between the European Union and NATO. We speak about cyber. We speak about infrastructure. We speak about energy supplies. We speak about the importance of strategic communications. And in all these areas, there are capabilities and assets in the European Union and there are capabilities and assets in NATO.