Brussels, Feb. 20, 2021 (Lusa) - Portugal is in excellent position to lead the negotiations between the European Union (EU) and NATO when the Alliance reflects on the future, officials have told Lusa.

"When compared with other EU countries, Portugal is quite small. Geographically, it is far from the centre of Europe. Still, in a certain way - unlike France, Germany, Poland or the Baltic States - it is not influenced by a particular way of thinking against Russia or America or being for or against European centralism. This impartiality means that Portugal has excellent conditions to promote this process", German MP and former Defence Minister Thomas de Maizière said in an interview with Lusa.

The secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg, commissioned to prepare a report with recommendations for designing the Alliance's future.  De Maizière said that the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) has come at a good time because it allows Portugal to "lead the process" to define the cooperation between the EU and NATO.

"This task is better suited to Portugal than, for example, France, Poland or Greece: France is perhaps too strong, Poland is perhaps too concerned about Russia, and Greece has perhaps too many unresolved problems with Turkey. This could raise problems with other allies. On the contrary, Portugal is not influenced at all by any of these delicate discussions, which could potentially diminish cohesion" within NATO, the German member of parliament stressed.

Tania Latici, co-coordinator of the Young Leaders group convened by Jens Stoltenberg to feed NATO's reflection process, also tells Lusa that "Portugal brings immense knowledge and practice in maritime security", a subject with "vast" importance in the cooperation between NATO and the EU and which has faced "political obstacles".

"Besides, Portugal is very active in the EU Strategic Compass process, which is taking place simultaneously with NATO's strategic reflection process and will be finalised in 2022, at the same time as the Alliance's new strategic concept. Therefore, this is a unique opportunity for strategic alignment through consultations between the two organisations that should not be missed," Latici said.

Identified by Portugal as one of the priorities during its semester, cooperation between the EU and NATO is "highly valued" by Portugal, the Portuguese permanent representative to NATO, Pedro Costa Pereira, told Lusa.

"The two organizations have many mutual interests since they face the same international situation, the same threats that exist today in the international scene, in trying to articulate their action, and of course that is a desirable objective", Costa Pereira added.

Addressing the joint declarations signed between the EU and NATO in 2016 and 2018 - which resulted in 74 cooperation measures -, the ambassador recognised that "more needs to be done" in areas ranging from "cybersecurity and hybrid threats" to "military mobility".

In this context, Costa Pereira said that there should be "articulation" between the EU and NATO so that complementary instruments could be used to make the strategy of the two organisations "coherent".

The EU's "soft power" is essentially non-military instruments of power. These non-military instruments of power, if there is action that is complementary between NATO and the EU, there can be a strategy that is developed that goes from the use, or the possibility of use, of instruments of power, to the use of non-military instruments of power, such as, sanctions", he underlined.

De Maizière also recommended organising a summit between NATO and the EU to create a "new starting point" in relations between the two partners based "on truth and not on illusions".

"Day-to-day relations between EU and Nato officials and military personnel are not very effective and need to be renewed. Therefore, doing more and talking less, to improve these relations, would be very good", he told Lusa.

The Portuguese researcher from the Portuguese Institute of International Relations (IPRI), Carlos Gaspar, also stressed the importance of Portugal "intervening in the process" of revision of NATO's strategic concept.

"Portugal should intervene in the process both to seek the most appropriate formulas to overcome internal differences and to emphasise the issues that it considers a priority, both in the area of partnerships - notably with Brazil and India - and in the growing importance of maritime security in the Atlantic, jeopardized by the increasing presence of naval assets of hostile powers," he stressed.

TEYA/ADB // ADB.

Lusa