Bucharest - A delegation of the Croatian Parliament, comprising the Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee Miro Kovač, the Chairman of the Defence Committee Igor Dragovan, the Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee Joško Klisović and the Deputy Chairman of the Defence Committee Anđelko Stričak, participated in the Inter-Parliamentary Conference on the Common Foreign and Security Policy(CFSP) and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) of the European Union.
The Conference was held in Bucharest within the framework of the Romanian EU Presidency on 7 and 8 March 2019. The Conference brought together members of the national parliaments of the European Union member states and of the European Parliament, as well as parliamentarians of the candidate countries and potential candidate countries. It was focused on the EU's priorities in the area of CFSP and CSDP, Eastern Partnership, Black Sea Region, security and defence within the framework of the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), the Coordinated Annual Defence Review (CARD) and the European Defence Fund (EDF), as well as on the European prospects of the Western Balkan countries.
As part of the conference, workshops were organized on the future of the CFSP and CSDP in the circumstances of Brexit, the EU's military mobility and the development of synergies between NATO and the European Union, EU Strategy for the Danube Region, cyber security and hybrid warfare. In the context of strengthening European defence capability, Miro Kovač stressed that the implementation of established mechanisms required a consensus at the highest level among all EU member states.
The Inter-Parliamentary Conference was established to strengthen the role of the national parliaments of the EU member states and the European Parliament in the field of foreign affairs, security and defence policy of the European Union. It is held every six months in the country holding the presidency of the Council of the European Union and it discusses the current foreign policy issues as well as matters related to security and defence.