NATO Secretary General sets out ambitious transatlantic agenda at Munich Security Conference

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called for a strong NATO at the heart of a new transatlantic agenda. https://www.eudebates.tv/events/von-der-leyen-eu-debates-the-new-transatlantic-agenda-at-msc/ Speaking at a virtual meeting of the Munich Security Conference on Friday (19 February), Mr. Stoltenberg said, “we now have an historic opportunity to build a stronger Alliance, to regain trust and reinforce our unity - Europe and North America working together in NATO in strategic solidarity.”

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In view of global challenges such as the rise of China, cyber attacks, disruptive technologies, climate change, Russia’s destabilising behaviour and the threat of terrorism, Mr. Stoltenberg underlined that “no country - and no continent - can go it alone. On the contrary, we must do more together.”

The NATO Secretary General set out the ambitious NATO 2030 agenda for the future of Alliance. He stressed that working together in NATO, Europe and North America “must reinforce our unity, broaden our approach to security, and defend the international rules-based order.”

Merkel, Macron and Johnson joined US president at virtual event.

Joe Biden, Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron and Boris Johnson topped the bill on Friday in a virtual version of the world’s top gathering on foreign affairs and defense — the Munich Security Conference.

The online event presented a first opportunity for the new U.S. president to set out his foreign policy agenda to Europe since he took office last month. John Kerry, Biden’s climate envoy, also addressed the conference — a scaled-down rejig of the gathering that normally fills Munich’s Hotel Bayerischer Hof every February.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel and U.N. chief António Guterres were among the other big names on the program.

Check out POLITICO’s live blog to read news, analysis and reaction as the conference unfolded.

Boris Johnson (who has a reputation as a political chameleon) pulled off the trick again. The man Joe Biden once called a Trump “clone” gave a Munich speech that positioned him as the optimistic champion of the transatlantic alliance Trump so often scorned.

Johnson sought to ease post-Brexit anxieties, insisting “our commitment to European security is unconditional and immoveable” and highlighted how his recent defense spending increase would make the U.K. the second-biggest NATO contributor after the U.S.

He confirmed the long-awaited “integrated review” of U.K. international policy would be published next month and ended with an appeal to “dispel the air of pessimism,” saying there was no reason why, despite global challenges, the U.S. and Europe could not be “stronger and safer” in 2030 than they are today.