European defence experts will gather in Brussels on 21 March for the European Defence Agency’s annual conference. This year’s conference looks at lessons learnt from defence cooperation projects and the long-term vision for future cooperation. Based on the analysis of the current situation and the longer-term goals, the conference will discuss concrete steps for the next year and will help to shape some ideas for 2013 key meetings.
Claude-France Arnould (Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency), Catherine Ashton (Head of the European Defence Agency) and Alan Shatter TD (Irish Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence) will open the conference. During the first panel, Christian Schmidt (German Parliamentary State Secretary), Tom Enders (CEO EADS), General Middendorp (Dutch Chief of Defence) and General Palomeros (NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation) will discuss lessons learnt from previous military collaboration projects.
The second panel on longer-term cooperation projects will feature General de Rousiers (Chairman of the military committee of the European Union), Lieutenant-General Debertolis (Secretary General of the Italian Defence and National Armaments Director), Arnaud Danjean (Chairman of Subcommittee on Security and Defence of the European Parliament) and Antonio Missiroli (Director of the European Union Institute for Security Studies).
The last panel will look at what concrete steps for cooperation in order to achieve results to better meet the challenges and threats Europe will face in the future. The panellists are: Pieter De Crem (Belgian Minister of Defence), Bogdan Klich (Senator of the Republic of Poland), Eric Trappier (Chairman of the ASD Defence Commission - Chairman & CEO of Dassault Aviation) and Daniel Calleja Crespo (Director-General of the Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General, European Commission).
Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, will speak at the conference during a special address. Participants will also get an overview on the Agency’s Pooling & Sharing initiatives by Capability Director Peter Round. Finally, the winner of the first EDA Egmont PhD Prize will take the floor to present the results of his thesis.
This conference is upon invitation only. A report on the conference will be available in the next EDA magazine issued in April.
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