REVIEW - Europe's Top Military Body To Organize Its Meetings In 'Closer Harmony' With NATO

BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th November, 2019) As foreign ministers of NATO member-states gathered for a meeting in Brussels, the European Union Military Committee (EUMC) held its own summit same day same place, poised to bring its logistical plans in "closer harmony" with NATO, a EUMC spokesperson told Sputnik on Wednesday.

"Not at all. We are working in close relation with NATO but will from now on organize our meetings, closer to the NATO decision summits and work in closer harmony," the spokesperson said when asked if the EUMC intended its meeting to compete with NATO's.

During a two-day meeting that launched earlier today, the EUMC attendees are expected to "discuss the state of play of EU-NATO cooperation" and get "updated on NATO activities and the implementation of the common set of proposals."

There is a clear convergence of interests between the EUMC and NATO, but it in no way places the EUMC under NATO's umbrella. That is for two reasons: not all EU members and members of NATO, and not all NATO members are members of the EU.

The EU has an operational capability that is theoretically independent of that of NATO. In practice, however, the EU is still largely deprived of autonomous logistical capabilities and must cooperate with NATO in order to carry out its military operations. In fact, US President Donald Trump has repeatedly called upon the European allies to reduce their reliance on the United States for security assistance. Relations between the Euro-Atlantic allies further bittered two weeks ago as French President Emmanuel Macron declared that NATO suffered a "brain death" and that the US was no longer leading the alliance.

Whether or not the European and NATO defense end up parting ways amid the poorly-concealed disagreements, such as the situation in Syria and the purchase of Russian-made S-400 air defense systems by Turkey, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg left talks with Trump last week with a promising news that the NATO allies in Canada and Europe will boost their financial contribution by the end of next year.