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The future architecture of European security should extend beyond the European Union and include cooperation with the United Kingdom, Norway, Turkey, and Ukraine.
This was stated by Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa, UATV English reports, citing Türkiye Today.
“The long-term response must be a vision of strengthened defense that is not limited to EU borders alone but is truly continental, involving partnership with the United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland, Moldova, the Western Balkan countries, Turkey, and Ukraine,” Guido Crosetto emphasized.
According to the minister, European governments can no longer plan the development of defense capabilities with a 10-to-15-year horizon, because the security environment is changing much faster.
Guido Crosetto also noted that Europe needs to take into account signals about a possible gradual reduction of the US military presence on the continent as Washington reorients toward the Indo-Pacific region.
“Governments can no longer limit themselves to planning capabilities that will be available in ten or fifteen years, by which point the situation will have completely changed,” the head of Italy’s Defense Ministry noted.
It is noted that Minister Crosetto’s statements are based on a strategic document from Italy’s Defense Ministry that outlines the country’s defense policy priorities for the 2027–2029 budget cycle. Among other things, it identifies the development of satellite communications as one of the key tasks, emphasizes the need to strengthen the protection of underwater critical infrastructure, and pays significant attention to cybersecurity and countering disinformation.
“A national and European center to counter hybrid warfare needs to be created,” Crosetto said.
According to him, such a structure should ensure more effective exchange of information and tools among allies to combat cyberattacks, propaganda, information manipulation, and other hybrid threats.
As previously reported, at the NATO summit in Ankara, Ukraine was for the first time recognized as a country contributing to transatlantic security.
Read also: Ukraine Receives USD 3.35B from World Bank
