Press release
First Meeting of Defence Ministers of E3 Countries
First paragraph of the articleFirst Meeting of Defence Ministers of E3 Countries
Federal Minister of Defence Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer will invite her colleagues, Florence Parly of France and Ben Wallace of the United Kingdom, to the first formal meeting of Defence Ministers of the E3 group in Saarland on 20 and 21 August 2020.
I want to use Germany’s presidency of the European Council to discuss increased European capacity for action in defence policy and Europe’s role in the world, also within the E3 format. I am delighted that my colleagues from France and the United Kingdom have accepted the invitation to my Saarland home – at the heart of Europe, if you will.Federal Minister of Defence Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer
Since 2003, within the scope of negotiations regarding the Iranian nuclear programme, the E3 format has become part of security policy coordination in Europe and has acted as a mediator between the EUEuropean Union, the US and Iran. In her keynote address at the Bundeswehr University Munich on 7 November 2019, the Federal Minister suggested that the E3 format be consolidated at the ministerial Level.
Crises in our immediate neighbourhood, the United States’ partial reorientation, and the impact of as well as the defence and technological challenges resulting from the COVID-19Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic require that we better pool European resources. Despite BREXIT, cooperation with the United Kingdom will continue to be of high importance to Germany and France with respect to security policy. The E3 format provides an added value for new impulses, also as an additional link between the EUEuropean Union and NATONorth Atlantic Treaty Organization.Federal Minister of Defence Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer
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