Zagreb - Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee and Head of the Croatian Parliament Delegation, Gari Cappelli together with the Chair of the Defence Committee, Franko Vidović participated in the 17th Inter-Parliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy (IPC CFSP/CSDP) of the European Union, within the parliamentary dimension of the German Presidency of the Council of the EU. Due to the extraordinary circumstances caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Conference was held for the first time via videoconference.
Inter-Parliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy encompassed topics related to the European Union's priorities in the field of foreign policy and security and defence policy, current security challenges in the Union's neighbourhood, especially in the Eastern Mediterranean, the situation in Belarus, EU’s relations with Russia and China and reflections on the European Defence Union, in the context of the strategic restructuring of the European Union's Common Security and Defence Policy.
The participants of the videoconference were addressed by the Vice-President of the European Commission and High Representative of the EU for Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell i Fonttelles with whom a debate was held on the security challenges facing the Union today, the Covid-19 pandemic, migration and crises in Lebanon, Syria, Libya and the Eastern Mediterranean.
The Head of the Croatian Parliament Delegation and Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Gari Cappelli, bearing in mind the challenges facing inter-parliamentary cooperation in the European Union due to the Covid-19 pandemic, welcomed the German Bundestag's engagement in organizing the Conference.