00:00But now, back in Brussels, exactly 25 years ago, EU member states agreed to set up an EU
00:05military committee to respond initially to the Balkan conflicts of the 90s. And this week,
00:11EU chiefs of defence from all across Europe will be flocking to Brussels to celebrate.
00:15But souring the mood, of course, will be the ongoing war in Ukraine and the conflict in
00:19the Middle East. For more, I'm joined here in the studio by General Sean Clancy, that's the chairman
00:23of the EU military committee. Good morning. Good to have you with us. So this week, as I said,
00:28the chiefs of defence will be flocking to Brussels to celebrate. But are you all on the same page
00:32when it comes to the threats facing the union today? Oh, very much so. I think flocking into
00:37celebrations, I think it's a moment of reflection more than celebration. I think it's, you know,
00:41it's a time to pause and reflect how far the European military committee, but the European
00:46paradigm of security defence has come as a whole over that period of time. No more so in the last
00:50four years, and you've mentioned that Ukraine, which is the number one priority for all of us
00:54and the focus of everyone. Although we do come from the geographical spaces throughout Europe,
00:59so it's north, south, east and west, and we take all of these things into consideration.
01:03But Ukraine, of course, is the primacy and the priority in which we examine it. And this week,
01:08of course, with the chiefs of defence, we will be looking at shaping the challenges that influence
01:14all of us, what our responses are to that. And through our reflections in our meetings, then
01:19we will be looking at the key issues such as the European security strategy, the defence
01:24readiness, and primarily then, of course, Ukraine, where will we be joined by General Sersky
01:29from Ukrainian forces himself? And you just mentioned Ukraine this morning, reporting of
01:33reports of 500 drones, dozens of missiles being fired into Ukraine, a serious escalation in the
01:37last couple of days there. Does this forum, though, carry any weight?
01:42Well, this isn't serious escalation. This, unfortunately, is happening on a regular basis.
01:46And the extraordinary resilience of the Ukrainian armed forces, but the Ukrainian people as a
01:51whole have, you know, has transformed Ukraine into a fortress nation now. And Ukraine, from
01:57a European point of view, is integral to the future security of Europe. So this isn't just
02:03beneficiaries of European charity. This is strategic initiative and imperative for Europe.
02:08But can the EU ever transition to this military powerhouse?
02:12The EU doesn't have to transition to a military powerhouse. Let's be very clear.
02:16The defence and deterrence of the Euro-Atlantic area, the responsibility for this lies with
02:20NATO. Europe brings huge strengths in terms of military advices, in terms of economic power,
02:26industrial power, and its ability then to, through its common security and defence policy
02:31instruments, to bring stability, security to many areas. We've seen it in the Western Balkans,
02:37which was the initial, I suppose, start out through Concordia of the EU military committee
02:41back, way back 25 years ago. But since then, when we reflect on what the EU has done, we
02:46see it in the Middle East through what the EU is trying to do in terms of the Lebanon going
02:50forward with the withdrawal of UNIFIL. We see it in terms of our missions and operations,
02:5515 of which we have completed in the last 25 years. Currently, there are nine live missions
03:00and operations. And the power of the EU is exercised, for instance, through our EU military
03:06assistant mission, where we have trained 93,000 soldiers of the Ukrainian armed forces to date.
03:11And we will continue unrelentily, unrelentily doing this. And we will shape the future of the
03:17armed forces of Ukraine with the help of the 27 member states, working coherently together.
03:23Okay. Sean Clancy, thank you so much for coming in to us today on your news on Europe Today.
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