NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, met on Tuesday (10 January 2023) at NATO Headquarters to sign the third Joint Declaration on NATO-European Union cooperation.
Speaking at a joint press conference, Mr Stoltenberg said: “we are determined to take the partnership between NATO and the European Union to the next level.” The Joint Declaration aims to further strengthen and expand the strategic partnership between NATO and the EU, building on unprecedented progress in cooperation between the two organisations since previous declarations were signed in 2016 and 2018.
The EU’s military sovereignty in danger after signing a declaration with NATO?
With the signing of a new declaration on cooperation between NATO and the EU, Europe “falls” into dependence on the strategy and resources of the Alliance and the US, said Dmitri Danilov, head of the European security department at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Regarding the interaction between the two organizations, Danilov emphasizes the European desire to guarantee its strategic autonomy and to create its own defense. Meanwhile, the expert noted, the EU cannot do without NATO resources, making it more dependent on US strategy and resources. As a consequence, Europe is heading in the opposite direction. In other words, towards dependency, Danilov opined, commenting on the adopted statement.
“The declaration was adopted under the new military-political conditions related to the conflict in Ukraine and therefore deals with how cooperation between NATO and the EU can be organized in the current crisis,” the expert added.
In the meantime, it is not just a matter of adopting declarations, but also of developing practical cooperation between the two organizations, which should take the form of specific work plans and programmes.
They must also be regularly inspected and have to go through an audit in terms of implementation. On the other hand, they must be adjusted and developed, so there are upcoming political documents, adds the political scientist.
Therein lies the danger for the sovereignty of the EU, believes the columnist Elena Karayeva, pointing out that in this way the members of the EU have to gradually cede control of their military sphere to NATO officials, and specifically, to the US. .
She claims that NATO would not have rushed to sign the document if it did not want to “immediately control the pace and volume of military aid deliveries that the Europeans promise to Ukraine.”
In her opinion, the capabilities of the EU do not satisfy the Pentagon, therefore, by obtaining a new base in the form of this statement, it will receive an additional lever of political pressure. This is also demonstrated by the failed idea of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to create a European army, which this declaration, given the capabilities that the US can receive, levels out.
“Sovereignty is like that. Once you get rid of it, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to regain your independence,” the expert concluded.
Russia launched the special military operation in Ukraine in response to the request of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, previously recognized by Moscow as sovereign states, for help in the face of kyiv’s genocide.
Numerous countries condemned the special military operation and support kyiv with arms supplies, donations, humanitarian aid and sanctions against Moscow.
According to Moscow, the US and other NATO countries got involved in the conflict by sending large quantities of weapons to Ukrainian troops, who since mid-February have intensified their attacks against civilians in the Donbas republics.
Russia sent the Atlantic Alliance countries a note regarding arms supplies to Ukraine, in which Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that any shipments that included weapons destined for kyiv would become a legitimate target for Russian troops .
The Russian Foreign Ministry declared that NATO countries “are playing with fire.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov stated that the West, by supplying Ukraine with weapons, does not contribute to sustaining the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and that such activity will have a negative effect.
