On 15 and 16 February 2017, Luxembourg’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, Étienne Schneider, attended NATO’s meeting for defence ministers in Brussels.

Minister Étienne Schneider has participated in this NATO meeting during which, following the decisions taken at the Welsh Summits in 2014 and Warsaw in 2016, defence ministers focused on the ways that NATO could help stabilise the southern flank of the Alliance, as well as on the establishment of an enhanced NATO presence in the Baltics and in Poland.

In this context, Luxembourg will participate in the multinational battalion in Lithuania.

In his first appearance at a NATO Defence Ministers meeting, the new US Defence Minister, James Mattis, insisted on the need for an additional defence effort by the European Allies. Luxembourg’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Étienne Schneider reiterated that Luxembourg will fulfil its Wales commitments to the gradual increase of the defence effort from 0.4% to 0.6% of GDP until 2020.

Beyond this meeting, Étienne Schneider signed a Memorandum of Understanding with his Estonian counterpart on a bilateral collaboration between Luxembourg and Estonia in the field of cyber defence.

The Grand Duchy will contribute financially to the construction of a cyber-training centre and the development of cyber-technology in Estonia. This contribution will be made in a way that complies with Luxembourg’s growing international commitments in defence matters. This centre, which will be made available to Luxembourg experts and administrations in this field, will strengthen the stability, security and performance of existing infrastructures in the fight against computer attacks.

At the meeting of NATO Defence Ministers, a cooperation agreement between the three Benelux countries and France on aviation safety was signed, as well as two letters of intent paving the way for the accession of Belgium, Germany and Norway to the Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) programme alongside Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Photo by NATO. From left to right: Ursula von der Leyen, German Minister of Defence; Etienne Schneider, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence