High-level seminar on "Building consensus towards the June 2015 European Council - next steps?" to take place in Riga

The seminar will be attended by representatives from the EU Ministries of Defence, who will discuss enhancing the development of EU capabilities, the challenges of strengthening Europe`s defence industry, as well as the role of the EU Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) in the light of recent changes in the global security environment.

“During the last year we have seen dramatic shifts within the global security environment. The EU is facing significant security challenges in its immediate neighborhood, such as Ukraine, Iraq, Libya, the Sahel and Syria. Also, the waning distinction between internal and external security challenges is encouraging the EU to achieve greater coherence between internal and external policies. This seminar gives us a chance to discuss the progress made and possible avenues for further improvements before the long-awaited meeting in June,” emphasises Raimonds Vējonis, the Minister for Defence of the Republic of Latvia.

The European Council meeting will take place in June in Brussels. The European Council will assess concrete progress on all issues in June and provide further guidance.

On 19-20 December 2013, for the first time since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the European Council held a thematic debate on defence. It identified three priority actions for stronger cooperation – increasing the effectiveness, visibility and impact of the CSDP, enhancing the development of capabilities and strengthening Europe`s defence industry.

Panel discussions on Jaunuary 19 and 20 will be streamed live on Presidency's website eu2015.lv