Munich Security Conference: Commission’s participation reflects commitment to a safer world

Executive Vice-President Vestager, High Representative/Vice-President Borrell together with Vice-Presidents Šefčovič, Jourová, Schinas and Commissioners Hahn, Breton, Simson and Sinkevičius will participate in the Munich Security Conference to discuss current crises and future security challenges. Tomorrow, Executive Vice-President Vestager will participate in a session together with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Germany, India and Korea as well as U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham. She will use this opportunity to highlight how the EU can promote multilateralism in an age of technological competition. She will also hold a number of bilateral meetings in the margins of the Conference. High Representative/Vice-President Borrell will participate tomorrow in a roundtable with heads of state or government of Western Balkan partners. On Saturday, he will participate in the informal European ministerial meeting on the D-ISIS Coalition and Iraq. On Sunday, the HR/VP will be a key contributor to the panel discussion on ‘A Europe that projects’ and attend the first ministerial-level meeting follow-up to the Berlin Conference on Libya. He will further hold a number of bilateral meetings, including with the Prime Minister of Kuwait, the Foreign Minister of Russia, the Foreign Minister of Iraq and the Minister of Defence of Japan. Vice-President Šefčovič will speak today during the discussion on ‘Unprecedented Threats, Unprecedented Measures: The Geopolitical Risks of Climate Change’. He will also give the keynote speech at the Sixth European Dinner of the Munich European Conference ‘Responsibility for Europe – new ideas, new minds’ tonight and will hold a bilateral meeting with the Secretary-General of the OECD, Angel Gurría, on Friday. Vice-President Jourová will participate in a panel discussion on ‘A Europe that Protects’ as part of the main Conference on Sunday morning and will also meet Mr Ludovic Orban, Prime Minister of Romania, and Mr Edgars Rinkēvičs, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Latvia. Vice-President Schinas will deliver a keynote speech at the opening of the Munich Cyber Security Conference on Thursday and will be a key contributor to the panel discussion on ‘A Europe that Protects’ as part of the main Conference on Sunday. On Friday and Saturday, he will participate in a number of roundtables and side events on cybersecurity, societal resilience in the European Neighbourhood, and antisemitism, as well as meet the Bavarian Interior, Sport and Integration State Minister, Joachim Herrmann, and the Armenian Foreign Affairs Minister, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan. Commissioner Hahn attends today the Conference ‘Responsibility for Europe – new ideas, new minds’ and will hold a series of bilateral meetings including with the World Bank. He will also meet the Bavarian Parliament in the margins of the Conference. As for Commissioner Breton, he will be attending the Conference on Saturday, promoting European cooperation in the field of Defence Industry. On this occasion, he will address the topic of big data. He will also deliver a speech for the opening of the Defence Roundtable. Commissioner Simson will participate in the Energy Security roundtable on Friday morning and will hold a bilateral meeting with the U.S. Secretary of Energy, Dan Brouillette. Commissioner Sinkevičius will participate in the Arctic Security roundtable on Saturday afternoon. In the margins of the Conference, President von der Leyen will attend a state dinner on Saturday evening, organised by the Bavarian Minister-President, during which she will make laudatory remarks in the context of the annual Ewald von Kleist Award. Details of the College members’ activities are available in the calendar. Audiovisual coverage will be available on EbS.